Schools back call for fairer rural funding

Our election manifesto launched earlier this month calls on the next Government to recognise the importance of schools serving sparsely populated areas and the extra costs involved in running them.

Before the election was called, Ministers announced consultation on the future of school funding would consider creating a rural subsidy giving extra funds to smaller primaries.

According to the Department for Children, Schools and Families, primary schools with less than 80 children cost 1,300 more per pupil to run than those with more than 150 pupils.

The Government said the subsidy could be used to allow rural schools to work together.

Headteachers and campaigners in Yorkshire, however, say the Government must go further.

They say a new funding system must recognise the extra costs faced by schools and councils to provide education across rural areas.

The East Riding, North Yorkshire, York, North Lincolnshire and

Wakefield are all members of the f40 group which is campaigning to close the gap between the best and worst funded councils.

Most in Yorkshire receive at least 2,500 less per pupil than the most well-supported London boroughs and more than three-quarters of the region's 15 councils are given less than the national average per pupil.

The East Riding has the lowest level of funding per pupil in the region – getting 3,851.25 compared with a national average of 4,217.71.

Two of the main reasons for variations between different councils is the level of deprivation in an area and the cost of living – a system which sees many London boroughs and much of the South East receive the highest levels of funding per pupil in England.

Now education bosses in Yorkshire say more weighting must be given to rural education.

In North Yorkshire there are 134 schools with fewer than 80 pupils, 79 of which have less than 50 children on their roll.

There are also almost 40 small schools across the East Riding and North Lincolnshire.

North Yorkshire County Council's director of education services Cynthia Welbourn said: "The biggest expense running a school is people. While in some areas you might get 250 pupils in one school you can see in North Yorkshire we will have 250 pupils across five schools which means more staff, more premises and more utility bills. There are also the costs of transporting pupils to schools which is not free. These schools are important to our communities. They need young families and children to remain vibrant and to have a sense of their own future."

She welcomed the Government's plans for a rural subsidy for primary schools but said this must also be extended to cover the costs of running smaller secondary schools with 500 pupils or less. There are 12 secondary schools of this size in North Yorkshire in places such as Ingleton, Settle, Scarborough, Whitby and Catterick.

Headteachers have also backed calls for a rural schools subsidy.

Tony Norton,head of St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School in Brigg, and executive member of the f40 group said: "One of the reasons schools in rural areas miss out is that there is more weight given to areas to urban areas of deprivation but I think it is mistake to think that there isn't deprivation in rural areas. "

Shan Gallagher, the head at St Benedict's Roman Catholic Primary School in Ampleforth said: " When I see the facilities that are available to urban schools it seems rural schools are being left behind."

Rural services study welcomed

A Yorkshire-based campaigner has welcomed the findings of an all-party investigation into rural services which has called for more support to be given to education in sparsely populated areas.

Lindsey Wharmby, a former Leeds headteacher and financial consultant for the f40 group, gave evidence to the all-party group in Westminster earlier this year on the need for the funding system to recognise

the costs faced by rural schools.

Now she has praised the report from the investigation which has called for the creation of "rurality adjustment" to be applied to both primary and secondary schools.

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Rural Services has also called for new measures to ensure the Government is accurately measuring how sparse a school's population is. It calls for measurements to be made from figures of an area's school age population rather than on overall population density.

Mrs Wharmby said of the report yesterday: "It is not just primary schools which cost more to run in rural areas, it is all schools and the cost of providing education services across rural areas as well which needs to be recognised."

Mrs Wharmby represented the f40 group at the hearing in Westminster along with the Rev Francis Loftus, the former head of Barlby High School.