EXCLUSIVE: New analysis shows Cabinet ministers’ old schools have lost millions in funding since 2010 – with urgent calls to reverse cuts impacting the next generation of pupils
Alarming analysis shows how Cabinet ministers’ old schools have lost millions in funding(Image: South Wales Echo)
Cabinet ministers’ old schools have lost millions in funding since 2010, analysis shows, as they face urgent calls to reverse cuts impacting the next generation of pupils.
The Stop School Cuts coalition will today hand out trading cards outside Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool highlighting the crushing impact of 16 years of real terms budget cuts on schools across England.
Campaigners are calling on the Cabinet to ensure today’s children are not denied the same opportunities they enjoyed. The cards will show cuts are particularly dire for the former schools of Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, whose Avondale School which was replaced by Stockport Academy in 2007 has lost £2.1million, and Education Secretary Lucy Powell, whose Parrs Wood High School has also lost £2.1m.
Researchers also said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls has seen £1.1m in cuts, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting’s Westminster City School has also lost £1.1m, while Welsh Secretary Stephen Kinnock’s Drayton Manor High School has lost £1.5m. Across England, schools have lost £4.5billion in real terms with cuts deepening by £300m, in the last year alone, the coalition said.
Experts warned cuts are leading to severe pressure in classrooms, including more than a million children being taught in class sizes of 30 or more kids and teachers having to do lessons in crumbling buildings with leaks and pests.
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: “This Cabinet had the opportunity of a state education that set them up for success, but an entire generation of pupils today has known nothing but cuts from reception to secondary school. We cannot deny today’s children those same life chances.
“The Prime Minister and Chancellor must use the upcoming Autumn Budget to properly restore funding for schools and protect opportunity for every child in England.”
Stacey Clark, Headteacher of Carleton Green Community Primary School, Lancashire, said: “Over the summer holidays, while schools were empty, I spent my own money buying paint and building supplies, spending weeks of my leave physically renovating a space so that our pupils could have a functional library.
“This is not an exceptional story — it is the hidden economy keeping the English education system afloat. Teachers and headteachers routinely subsidise state education out of their own pockets because the alternative is letting children go without basic essentials.”
Rob Pavey, Headteacher of Cheney School, Oxfordshire, said: “I’ve cut ten teachers in the last two years. All of this harms the chances of children, all of this does damage to the curriculum. We are losing something fundamental for the future of our children.
“The thing that makes the biggest difference to children is well-paid staff that have the time to listen and to create bespoke solutions for the children who need it. Every single cut means that there is less time available – staff have less time to spend with their students.”
The Stop School Cuts campaign is a non-partisan coalition led by educators, parents, and school staff dedicated to securing adequate funding for every school in England.
