HEADTEACHER Mike Fieldhouse says he is looking forward to what the Government’s £1.3billlion cash injection to boost school budgets across the country will do for The Chase.
Mr Fieldhouse spoke to the Observer following the Government’s announcement that the minimum funding per secondary school pupil will be set at £4,800 from 2018/19.
Currently the average per pupil funding in Worcestershire is £4,300 and many secondary schools, including The Chase, will be boosted by the promised cash injection.
For decades schools in the county have been chronically underfunded and headteachers and county MPs have for years been lobbying the Government for more cash.
And the recent news has been welcomed by Mr Fieldhouse who believes it was important the school funding issue was addressed sooner rather than later.
“We’re looking forward to finding out what this means for us at The Chase,” he said.
“Increasing costs are an ongoing challenge for schools to manage and additional funding would be welcomed.
“I hope this is the first of many steps to address this huge issue, given the gap between income and costs is getting wider.”
Town MP Harriett Baldwin welcomed Education Secretary Justine Greening’s announcement of the extra cash which has been found by savings within the Department for Education.
Cash has been taken from elsewhere in the education budget such as a cut of £280million from the free schools budget and £315million has been slashed from the ‘healthy pupils’ project.
“Nine out of ten of our Worcestershire schools are good or outstanding and many do so within extremely tight budgets,” said Mrs Baldwin.
“I hope that parents and teachers will join me in welcoming this important next step towards getting the best possible funding deal.
“This has been a matter where I have pressed both publicly and privately for a solution which offers financial security and stability to our high-performing local schools,” she added.”
