Education Secretary to visit Ilfracombe Arts College

Education Secretary Michael Gove is to visit Ilfracombe Arts College to see for himself some of the school's outdated buildings.

Mr Gove made his promise to Devon’s schools’ chief Christine Channon following a top level meeting in London.

Mrs Channon, Devon’s Cabinet Member for Schools and Skills presented Mr Gove with a DVD made by students the college of four county schools outlining why their buildings need to be modernised.

Three Devon secondaries – Chulmleigh, Ilfracombe and Tiverton – and Marland Special School in North Devon missed out on cash for rebuilding when the Government cancelled the Building Schools for the Future programme.

Mrs Channon's visit was to persuade Mr Gove to make money available to ensure these schemes can proceed. “It is a powerful and persuasive recording which I hope will help to sway Mr Gove’s decision,” she said. “Labour’s BSF scheme was hugely bureaucratic and unnecessarily expensive to administer. However the very real need for new buildings at these four Devon schools still remains.So I am delighted that Mr Gove has agreed to come to Devon to see for himself the very real need there is in the county. We are planning to fix a date for him to visit as soon as possible.”

Mrs Channon said the entire meeting was very constructive and positive and she believed the Government had also been listening to Devon’s Fair Funding for Schools campaign.

The current funding formula for schools sees Devon sitting 148th out of 151 local authorities. Every child in a Devon school is now worth £4,005 compared with a national average of £4,398 – a difference of £393.

The Department for Education is currently looking at the funding formula for schools from 2011 and how it distributes the Government’s new Pupil Premium for the most disadvantaged children.

Mrs Channon said: “Mr Gove said he was well aware of the funding situation in Devon and the work we have been doing with the F40 group of worst funded local authorities. He promised that he intended to do something about this in the new formula.

“This is real recognition of Devon’s case,” said Mrs Channon, “and I am very pleased that at last our message is getting through.Our primary and secondary schools already achieve better than average results in the Key Stage 2 SATs and at GCSE. But if they were funded on a level playing field with schools in other parts of the country and were able to employ more teachers and specialist staff they could achieve even higher standards.”

Do you think the school buildings at the college are suitable for purpose? Which are the best and worst buildings in the school? Add your comments below!