[S]ue Hayman, Member of Parliament for Workington, has written to Nick Gibb MP, the Schools Minister, with her concerns regarding school funding in Cumbria, and requesting a meeting with him after the General Election.
In her letter, Sue said: “Our local schools face pressure to meet spiralling the costs of supporting growing pupil numbers. Schools in my constituency alone will be forced to make nearly £1.3 million in savings. Across the county, hundreds of teaching staff will have to be let go in order for schools to be able to balance the books.
“When I met with you recently, along with the other Cumbrian MPs, you promised me a one-to-one meeting after Easter to follow up on a number of my concerns. Obviously, given the snap General Election, this will not be possible in the immediate future, hence my letter to you.
“I write to implore you not to forget the needs of schools in my Workington constituency, and to ask you to confirm that you will still be able to meet with me to discuss matters after the General Election.
“Over Easter, I met with a number of headteachers from across my constituency, including from Cockermouth School, Beacon Hill Community School, and Seaton Junior School. They are all extremely concerned about the impact that school funding cuts will have on their ability to continue to provide high quality teaching to children in my constituency.
“Without the right funding in place, our schools cannot provide adequate support for our children. We already have severe teacher recruitment and retention problems in Cumbria. Under-resourced schools will not help to attract more teachers, and only serve to demoralise the over-stretched current workforce.
“Only with additional investment can we tackle the teacher recruitment crisis, bring down class sizes, and provide every child in Cumbria with the first class education that they deserve.”
