I am a member of the Gloucestershire Schools Forum so I receive all of the latest updates on school funding. I am afraid it is rarely good news. This week I received an update on the work of the F40 Campaign Group of which Gloucestershire is a member.

Our county receives £9086.75 per mainstream pupil which makes us the 26th worst funded authority in the country. Hackney is the best funded authority in the country receiving £14,181.59 per pupil. There are huge anomalies looking down the list. For example why would County Durham receive almost £1,000 more per pupil than Gloucestershire?

The funding for High Needs Education is equally unfair. Gloucestershire receives £1197.78 per pupil and is the 33rd worst funded authority in the country. The best funded, Camden receives £3831.71 per pupil. I don’t want to sound like I’ve got a problem with County Durham but again noticed that they get £1660.47 per pupil.

If you are interested in the work of F40 please visit their website here:

https://www.f40.org.uk/

This post code lottery needs to end. It is simply not right that there are such vast differences in education funding depending on where you live.

Dominic Burke