‘Cash-starved’ Norfolk schools write to parents to urge them to lobby MPs

Norfolk headteachers have written to parents to ask them to lobby MPs for more schools cash. Photo: Dave Thompson/PA Wire

Hundreds of parents in Norfolk will soon receive a letter from headteachers urging them to lobby their MPs for more money for schools.

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Norfolk is one of 17 counties around the country which will distribute a letter to one million families to highlight the ongoing crisis in schools.

More than 4,000 schools across the areas - which includes East Sussex, Essex, Surrey and Oxfordshire - hope the letter will keep classroom funding at the top of the agenda ahead of the Queen’s speech on Wednesday.

The letter says: “The only way for our cash-starved schools to function effectively is for proper investment – capital/buildings and revenue – to be made into existing schools.

“The government must also avoid giving schools additional money through a new formula and then taking it back again through hidden costs and stealth taxes.”

It acknowledges that the Conservative manifesto pledged an additional £4bn for schools over five years, but points to Institute for Fiscal Studies research which says - taking into account rising pupil numbers and inflation - that the money would actually result in a 2.8pc real terms cut in per-pupil funding between 2016 and 2022.

The letter says it is “crucial” for parents to use their “unique influence” to hold the government to account.