8:54am Friday 20th January 2006
COMMENT: Swindon children are missing out on hundreds of pounds from the Government for their education.
Figures from the Department for Education and Skills show that neighbouring towns receive far more money each year for example Reading is given £400 more than Swindon for every secondary school pupil. This is quite obviously unfair. The DfES may well point to a sliding scale that takes into account how wealthy each town and city is, but this has failed Swindon.
As education experts say today, there are areas of deprivation in Swindon which are masked by the town's overall affluence.
Swindon is being failed by the Government, and the results of a long-term lack of money are seen in the league tables published this week overall the town is slipping down the rankings, and sadly Headlands School was placed bottom of the pile.
Today we join councillors and union leaders in calling on Education Secretary Ruth Kelly to give Swindon's youngsters a fair deal. The slide cannot be allowed to continue. It is not fair that their prospects are being blighted by the Government's tight purse strings.
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