Louie French has welcomed that four schools in Old Bexley and Sidcup have been awarded funding to improve their school buildings, including Blackfen School for Girls, Sherwood Park Primary School, Hurst Primary School and Holy Trinity Primary School.
The Department for Education is assigning almost £456 million to 1,033 projects at 859 academies and sixth-form colleges to improve school buildings and provide more children the world class learning environment to match our world leading education system.
Louie is passionate about supporting our local excellent schools, including lobbying for funding bids to the Department for Education, and is therefore delighted that four local schools have received this important funding.
In previous years, this funding has benefitted several local schools which Louie helped lobby for, including providing funding towards a new sixth form block as Beths Grammar School, which will be built shortly, and the brilliant new sixth form block at Christ the King, Sidcup, which Louie had the privilege of opening recently with the Mayor of Bexley.
More widely, Louie has welcomed the extra £2 billion school funding the Government and taxpayers have invested this year, helping schools and colleges with the highest spending on education in history. The total schools’ budget will be £58.8 billion in 2024-25, fulfilling the Government’s pledge to restore per pupil funding to record levels, with real term per pupil funding above 2010 levels.
Commenting in the House of Commons, Louie said:
“I want to place on record my thanks to the Department for Education, which this week granted funding for four bids from schools in Old Bexley and Sidcup. That will help to improve learning facilities at Hurst Primary School, Sherwood Park Primary School, Holy Trinity Lamorbey Primary School and Blackfen School for Girls. That funding follows seven successful bids from Bexley schools in previous funding rounds, which I was happy to support, and this makes us one of the most successful constituencies in the UK.”
“The Government have also supported the vital expansion of special educational needs and disabilities provision in Bexley, which includes £9.5million for new school places and £30 million to help Bexley expand its support for local children with SEND. That money is extremely vital and will go a long way to help local parents. Bexley’s share of the £2 billion additional funding for schools will also see £2.5 million of extra investment in local school budgets to help teachers to continue to deliver the education outcomes in Bexley that our borough is rightly proud of.”
“In summing up, we have a world-leading education system. We need world-class facilities to match, so that pupils can study effectively in the best environment possible to help them succeed. Every school should have access to high-quality facilities. Investment by our Government will deliver that, so pupils can gain the skills they need for their careers and our economy. And like our schools this week, our economy is on the upgrade.”
You can read Louie’s full speech on local school funding in the House of Commons Chamber here.
