Faisal Rashid
Main Page: Faisal Rashid (Labour - Warrington South)Department Debates - View all Faisal Rashid's debates with the Department for Education
(5 years, 9 months ago)
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Faisal Rashid (Warrington South) (Lab)
I thank all the Members who have taken part in the debate and the more than 100,000 people who signed the petition. Last year, I surveyed more than 30 schools from across my constituency to try to understand the scale and impact of Government cuts to our children’s education. I was shocked to learn that since 2015 more than 80% of schools in my constituency have been forced to cut basic educational provision such as books, equipment and teacher training. The same number reported that they have had to make staffing cuts owing to funding pressures. Most damningly, every one of the schools surveyed in my constituency reported that they were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their current levels of funding.
Despite the best efforts of our hard-working school leaders to protect pupils from cuts, it is becoming more and more difficult. We know all too well by now that cuts to schools hit the poorest children the hardest. Current levels of funding risk robbing a generation of working-class children of their future. A primary school headteacher in my constituency recently got in touch to raise a number of concerns that illustrate the crisis in schools well. That headteacher represents a school in one of the most deprived parts of my constituency. Despite that, the school achieves excellent results, coming in the top 2% of schools for progress in maths and the top 5% for English.
The headteacher told me that the school achieved those results by working closely with families to support their needs, and by trying to ensure that the children have the resources they need to thrive and achieve. They believe that through support to the whole family children are given the best possible life chances, but she told me:
“I have built a strong, highly skilled and highly effective team to do this—families tell us how much they value the work we do. However, under the current climate of worsening school budgets this service is threatened. I am facing over the next few years a deficit budget. What do I cut? I know that the services we offer make a real difference to our children, but within a couple of years I will struggle to fund the very basics required to educate our children”.
How can the Minister justify putting hard-working educators in such a position?
As that example makes clear, schools with the potential to achieve the very best results are being held back by insufficient budgets. It is a scandal, actively undermining the hard work and progress made by schools in my constituency. Many other local primary schools recently wrote to me expressing similar concerns.
Next week, the Chancellor will issue his spring statement. That is an opportunity for the Government to listen to the concerns of teachers and parents across the country and substantially increase funding for schools. I call on the Government to put an end to their unsustainable programme of education cuts—a programme that is placing an intolerable burden on the future of the country. If the Government are serious about the future direction of our country post Brexit, they must start seriously investing in those who stand to inherit it.