Gareth Snell Labour and Co-operative Candidate for Stoke-on-Trent Central
🗣Please share to show people the damage being done in our schools by funding cuts 📉💷✂️
“We can’t cut back anymore. We are on our knees” – that was the stark message from local head teachers to Downing Street as they delivered a letter to the government urging them to take real action to address the systematic under-funding of our schools.
As a father there’s nothing more important to me than my child’s education. But it’s clear to me the damage that austerity is causing in our classrooms. Schools in our region are having to reduce staff numbers, the level of teaching assistant support, training and extra curricular activities and, crucially, special needs support. Some schools have already gone down to a 4 and a half day week and more say this move is inevitable for them too.
Our children deserve the best education available to them but the pressures being put on head teachers and staff means that isn’t going to be possible – you can’t cut your way to children fulfilling their potential.
I’m proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with local teachers and trade unions who are standing up for the quality of education our children deserve. You can see from the table below that real term funding has stayed static despite increasing costs and school numbers.
Our schools are at breaking point. Austerity has to end in our schools before our children’s futures are damaged irreversibly.
