The head teacher of Highbridge’s King Alfred School has this week joined a campaign with other secondary Heads to demand fairer Government funding for Somerset’s schools.
Denise Hurr, right, is urging action after fears that students are suffering due to ‘postcode discrimination’ as the county is among the worst funded in the country.
The latest figures – released this week – show Somerset students get under half the £12,159 that is allocated to children in the City of London area.
And only 13 of the 150 local education authorities get less than Somerset.
Denise told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “These are appalling statistics and it is a somewhat scandalous way to organise funding.”
“Somerset students should not be losing out just because of where they live. The Department of Education has to act on this.”
Other head teachers across the county are supporting the campaign and want the Government to establish a fairer national funding formula.
They say the DfE system leads to disadvantaged students in Somerset being funded well below the level of affluent students in better funded authorities.
They also want all school funding to be distributed through a single stream, with no specific grants and incorporating the pupil premium, while the DSG should depend “on the basis of local need.”
