Farron consults local Head teachers over School Leaving Age Bill

Last Friday, local MP Tim Farron held an education forum with head or deputy head teachers from high schools and primary schools in Westmorland and Lonsdale. There was a wide-ranging discussion, discussing amongst other things the Local Education Authority, SAT tests and broadband infrastructure. In addition, members of the Forum discussed the School leaving Age Bill, in particular the likelihood of there being no additional funding provided for schools even though there is a good chance that the bill would lead to a higher number of people 'staying on' at sixth form.

Speaking after the forum, Tim Farron MP said:

"The Education Forum is really helpful to me because I get to hear directly from local experts in education. I always feel much more informed after one of our meetings! We discussed many things including the School Leaving Age Bill. Although we all agreed that the Bill was positive in many ways, there was real concern that with more teenagers staying on at school to sixth-form level, schools should be able to expect some increase in post-16 funding?"

"If this is not the case, local schools would suffer as their budgets would have to stretch to accommodate more pupils."