Thank you for contacting me about school funding.
As Conservatives, we are committed to providing a world class education system for all children, and have invested significantly in our schools to achieve that. This year we increased education funding to almost £60billion, an increase of almost £2 billion compared to last year, taking funding to its highest ever level in real terms.
This includes additional funding for both disadvantaged pupils and children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). An extra £440 million investment to support pupils with SEND has been allocated to local authorities to fund special schools and provide mainstream schools with additional resources to meet the needs of pupils with complex SEND. Funding for those with complex needs is also rising to £10.5 billion this year–an increase of more than 60 per cent over the last five years.
For disadvantaged children–we have increased pupil premium funding rates to £1,480 for primary pupils and£1,050 for secondary pupils this year, an increase of 10 per cent since 2021-22. This brings total funding to more than £2.9 billion overall, supporting schools in disadvantaged areas to raise educational outcomes for the pupils who need it most.£1.8 billion has been committed in capital funding to support schools to stay in good working order, as part of £15 billion allocated since 2015.
Our School Rebuilding Programme will transform over 500 schools over the next decade. These increases build on the brilliant work going on in schools up and down the country, with standards continuing to rise. Currently, 89 per cent of schools rated good or outstanding, up from 68 per cent in 2010.Thanks to Conservative reforms, England continues to rise up the global rankings in maths, reading and science. England is now ranked 11thin the world for maths, up from 27th in 2009, and last year England was named ‘best in the west’ for primary reading.