WITH Okehampton College and Okehampton Primary likely to lose out in the wake of changes to the funding formula for England’s schools, representatives from the college have met with Okehampton’s MP to share their concerns.

Central Devon MP Mel Stride, a former governor of the college, gave a cautious welcome to the new funding formula announcement in December, which will likely see most schools in his constituency see an increase in funding.

The new formula is designed to stop inequalities that see schools in different parts of the country, with similar intakes, receive different levels of per-pupil budget. There will be extra funding for ‘sparsity’, such as rural areas and small schools, places with a high level of mobility in its school population and funding where there are sharp increases in pupil numbers.

However, the formula could lead to larger rural schools, including both Okehampton College and Okehampton Primary, actually losing out. The college’s chair of governors Ian Courtney, other members of the management team and Okehampton Primary headteacher Hazel Fox met with Mr Stride to discuss the funding changes.

Mr Courtney said: ‘Regrettably, Okehampton College looks as though it will be within the minority of schools in Devon that will lose out from the proposed changes and could actually see a reduction in funding.

‘We appreciate that the proposals are not a done deal and are still in the consultation phase, but we have pressed upon Mel the difficulties that any reduction in funding would cause the college and are pleased he has agreed to go back to the Education Secretary as part of the Government’s consultation and ask her to specifically look at our situation.’

Mr Stride said: ‘For the best part of a decade I have campaigned for changes to the national funding formula, which has left rural areas underfunded compared to urban centres.

‘Old formulas have ignored the hidden costs of running schools in rural counties like Devon such as high transport and recruitment costs, the fact that the county has a large number of small schools which are disproportionately more expensive to run and that many schools operate out of old buildings which are costlier to maintain.

‘The Government delivered a major increase in funding for schools in Devon in April 2015 and the proposed new changes are set to see further increases delivered to our county. However, I believe there may be issues around how these additional funds are distributed between schools especially in respect of secondary schools. I have agreed to arrange a meeting with the Secretary of State to discuss concerns that Okehampton College has on this.’