More than 2,000 head teachers from across England demanded increased funding for schools during a protest outside Downing Street today.
Traffic was brought to a temporary standstill in Parliament Square by the demonstrators, who carried banners with messages including “fund state education properly” and “head teachers say there is nothing left to cut”.
However, “unlike many protests in the square, the leaders were dressed for business - in suits and ties”, says the Daily Mirror.
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Rob Kelsall of campaign group Worth Less?, which organised the march, told the newpaper: “We are seeing schools that are seeing their funds depleted, dipping into their reserves, and having to send out begging letters to parents.
“This is not through choice, this is because there is no alternative.”
The marchers applauded when it was confirmed that their own letter pleading for more resources had been delivered to Chancellor Philip Hammond.
“It’s extraordinary that unprecedented numbers of heads from different sectors and from as far afield as Cornwall and Cumbria are all coming to London,” said West Sussex head teacher Jules White, who helped coordinate the protest.
“We are all joined by a common desire - and in many cases desperation - to see our schools fairly and adequately funded.”
Kelsall added that prior to the march, one protester had told him that if they succeeded in getting the Treasury to change its funding policy, it would be “the best day’s work he's ever done. That’s the stage we’re at.”
Data released earlier this year “showed the number of secondary schools in England running at a loss had nearly trebled in four years”, The Northern Echo reports.
The study, published by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) in March, said the number of local authority secondary schools in deficit had dropped from 14.3% in 2010-11 to 8.8% in 2013-14, but then soared to 26.1% between 2013-14 and 2016-17.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb today insisted that the Government had introduced a “fairer” funding system, the national pupil premium, which he claims has resulted in at least a 0.5% increase in spending for most schools, and up to 3% for historically underfunded schools.
“We are asking schools to do more and they are delivering,” he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Meanwhile, Labour has backed the Downing Street demonstration, reports The Times. Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner called it “a clear sign of the desperate struggle they [head teachers] now face to provide a decent education while balancing the books”.
She added: “It is time that ministers listened to the clear message from communities across the country that they have had enough of cuts to their schools.”
