What will the new "fairer funding" schools formula mean for Somerset?

Justine Greening, Secretary of State for Education, announced in parliament last week that the “historic” reform will see a major overhaul of school funding across the country.

The new National Funding Formula” (NFF) will see money distributed according to the individual needs of each school.

Ms Greening said the new formula will provide transparency, as well as delivering on the Conservative promise to make school funding “fairer”.

She said: “This is a historic reform. It means for the first time the resources the Government is investing in our schools will be distributed according to a formula based on the individual needs and characteristics of every school in the country.

“Not only will the National Funding Formula direct resources where they are most needed, helping to ensure that every child can get the high quality education that they deserve wherever they live, it will also provide that money through a transparent formula.”

Currently, schools are funded through money given to each local authority by central Government – but is done so in a way that is influenced by historical spending within each authority.

Department of Education figures from 2014/15 show that the South West had the lowest spend-per-pupil across England at £3,916, with Inner London the highest at £5,918.

The Education Secretary said she was increasing the basic level of funding schools would get for each pupil and under the new formula, the minimum per pupil funding level in 2019/20 for secondary schools would be at least £4,800 per pupil. For primaries in England it would be £3,500 by 2019/20.

Rebecca Pow, MP for Taunton Deane, said schools in the area are expected to receive an average of 6.1 per cent more than before.

She said: “I am delighted that after a long-fought campaign, working alongside parents, teachers and governors, that the Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening, has worked meticulously to develop the new National Funding Formula that is fairer that we have ever seen before.

“Historically, Somerset pupils received 4.3 per cent less funding than the ten best funded areas in the country.

“Now, school children in Taunton Deane will receive on average a 6.1 per cent increase in their funding with no schools seeing a decrease from the new funding formula, giving young people in Taunton Deane the best possible start in life.”

MP Rebecca Pow with Taunton Academy head teacher Jenny Veal and students.

It isn’t yet clear how much individual schools in Somerset will be allocated, but Somerset County Council says it welcomes the reform.

A Spokesperson for Somerset County Council, said: “We welcome the announcement from the Education Secretary that the National Funding Formula for schools will be reformed to make it fairer for schools across the country.

“We will wait to hear more detail in order to consider the implications for Somerset schools.”

One Taunton headteacher says her school will benefit from the new system, but it concerned for those who will lose out.

Jenny Veal, headteacher of Taunton Academy, said the new system would bring good news for some and bad for others.

“Essentially, it is a good thing to have a fairer system for allocating money to schools,” she said. “However, with any change to a system, there will be some who are better off and some who are worse off.

“Fortunately, we will be better off, which goes some way to compensate for many years the school has been underfunded in comparison to others.

“I can empathise with school leaders whose budgets will be cut further as a result of the new ‘fairer formula’ as very real cuts to the education spend, despite Government rhetoric around this topic, is crippling.

“A school’s core purpose has always been raising educational standards. This has to be properly supported with sufficient funding and a real commitment to specialist staff recruitment and retention in order for this to be successful.”

Head teacher Kerry Tonkin and her students celebrating their latest Ofsted report. 

Kerry Tonkin, headteacher of Bishop Fox’s School, said that waiting for a reform has been a “testing time” for schools.

She added: “I welcome the Government’s commitment to a National Funding Formula for schools.

“It is essential that schools are funded fairly wherever they are located, and that historical inequalities are removed. With the additional cost of the pay award and the recent increases in National Insurance and superannuation, not to mention Apprenticeship levies and such like, it has been a testing time for schools and this can’t come soon enough especially as we were hoping for it in 2017/18.

“Setting minimum funding levels for schools is also a welcome move, but we need to examine whether the levels are sufficient. The fear is that they are still too low to allow schools to deliver the quality of education they want to provide and which students need. The fundamental problem is there is not enough funding going into education.”

Sarah Watson, head teacher of The Castle School, said: "It is still unclear yet how much schools will benefit from the new fairer funding, but we are expecting increases in Somerset funding generally.

"Of course it depends if this is new money, and it certainly seems to be, and if the LA are going to top slice it as has happened previously.

"As The Castle is one of the lowest funded schools in Somserset, we are expecting to be one of those schools with a much-needed increase in our budget after many years of cuts.

"In Somerset we also have been well served by our local MPs in this campaign."