Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire has called on the Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan, to grant priority building scheme funding to Edgecliff High School in Kinver.
Gavin visited Edgecliff High School last week to talk to pupils and staff about plans for the school in the future. For many years the school has suffered from poor and inadequate buildings, which are in desperate need of an upgrade, something that the funding bid could help with exponentially.
Gavin is a member of the f40, a cross party group that acts on behalf of the lowest funded Education Authorities and has been campaigning for a fairer deal since the 1990s. Last year, he joined over fifty Conservative colleagues in writing to the Secretary of State for Education to back his plans for a new national funding formula and call for a fairer deal on school funding to start as soon as possible.
Gavin said: “It’s important that we get a fair deal for South Staffordshire. Schools in other parts of the country such as those in Greater London, Wolverhampton and Dudley, for example, receive more money for pupil and I am determined to fight for schools in South Staffordshire.
“The Edgecliff High School buildings are far from adequate and are in desperate need of an enhancement from the priority build scheme funding. The funding has the potential to boost the performance of pupils and the school as a whole.
“None of the schools in my constituency have benefitted from any of the schools for the future schemes and have had a particularly poor time in terms of benefitting from any capital schemes in relation to school buildings, having not received any major investment for over two decades.
“Our students continue to achieve impressive results but, for too long, our pupils have been receiving hundreds of pounds less in funding, per head, than students in other major urban areas. Students in South Staffordshire deserve an equal investment in their education and intend to keep up the pressure on Ministers to ensure that pupils in South Staffordshire get a fair deal and the very best deal we can get.”