, Labour’s Shadow
Education Secretary, responding to a study showing that
one in eight schools have no library, said:
“These figures show the consequences of cuts the Tories have
imposed on our schools. Even worse, it is clear that the highest
price is being paid by those who most need the extra help.
“The schools with the most disadvantaged pupils are already those
least likely to have been able to maintain a library. Yet the
government has deliberately diverted the limited funding that it
has promised away from those schools.
“Labour believes that every child deserves the best start in
life, including access to books and the opportunity to read, and
our National Education Service will give schools the investment
they need to provide it.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
- · Agnew
accused of funding Tory areas at expense of poor https://www.tes.com/news/agnew-accused-funding-tory-areas-expense-poor
- · According to
EPI analysis:
- o Primary schools in which less than
five per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals –
just one or two pupils in each year group – would see an
average increase in per pupil funding of £271, while almost
all schools serving the most disadvantaged communities would
miss out. Overall, the average pupil eligible for free school
meals would attract an additional £56 under this proposal,
while the average pupil not eligible for free school meals
would attract an additional £116.
- o And there is an interesting side story
for secondary schools. Who could forget the noise three years
ago at the proposal that one way to address social injustice
was to expand academic selection with new grammar schools.
Like so much in that time, the proposals were lost to the
distraction of Brexit and simple Parliamentary arithmetic.
The new Prime Minister may well end up helping grammar
schools more than the last. All but 12 of England’s 163
grammar schools would benefit under this proposal; at an
average of over £130,000 each to their total budgets.
https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/analysis-the-prime-ministers-promise-to-level-up-school-funding/
- · A study
released today (Thursday), commissioned by the Great School
Libraries campaign, has shown that around one in eight schools do
not have a library, with poorer children less likely to have
access to one than their richer peers
- o The survey shows discrepancies between
rich and poor - 91% of schools that have between none and 9%
of pupils eligible for free schools meals - a key measure of
poverty - have a library area. This drops to 81% among
schools where 25% to 49% are eligible for free dinners, and
to 56% where half or more pupils are eligible.
- o Nick Poole, chief executive of CILIP,
a library and information association, said: "We welcome this
landmark report as the first comprehensive picture of the
state of play in our school libraries. On the one hand, it is
a testament to the head teachers, teachers, governors and
librarians that value and promote the importance of school
libraries for learners and their school. On the other hand,
the research paints a picture of inequality of access and
opportunity and insecure employment that we cannot accept.”
