School lessons

However, this is little consolation to those families in the more remoter parts of Yorkshire who want an end to the inherent bias in the Government's funding formulas that so favours urban areas over rural communities.

Children should not be discriminated against in this way. They all deserve an equal chance of success – and the fact of the matter is that predominantly rural LEAs have worked wonders to achieve such impressive results with such limited resources. To its credit, the Government has, at least, recognised the existence of this funding disparity and is looking at creating a special rural subsidy for primary schools.

This is to be welcomed, even more so if it is funded by efficiency savings. However, it does not go far enough. The main parties also need to accept that secondary schools, with predominantly rural catchment areas, are similarly under-funded because of the scale of

their overheads.

In urban areas, this may not be an issue – it is easier for neighbouring schools to share costs and facilities. Yet this is not an option in areas where there is only one secondary schools, and pupils are already travelling upwards of 20 miles to attend lessons.

It is why fair funding for all needs to be a priority, even more so when "fairness" is emerging as one of the recurring themes of this election.