Elliott will miss out if Tories win

If the Tories win the general election Putney's Elliott School will miss out on the absolutely vital cash it needs to renovate a rapidly decaying building.
Elliott has been badly treated for years by the Conservative council who waited until the very last tranche of funding from Labour's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme to bid on the school's behalf - and now the man who will be in charge of schools has said that any project without an end date (and Elliott only just about has a start date, let alone an end date) will lose this funding.
This is a crazy decision: even for a Conservative Party hell-bent on making drastic and catastrophic immediate spending cuts. And this from a party that promised us that education funding would be safeguarded if they ever won power.
And instead of a word of objection, or a campaign to save Elliott's essential funding, all residents are getting right now from their Conservative candidates for MP and council is a bizarre letter talking about some airy-fairy notion of establishing a so-called free school on Putney Common - a school that will drain money from existing schools like All Saints, St Mary's and Hotham.
This contast shows, yet again, how out of touch the Conservatives are. I was always taught that you make the best of what you have before starting something new - and that means sorting out Elliott and bringing a 1950s building into the 21st century. Education study after study - as well as common-sense - says that children learn best when they are in a comfortable, safe, clean and modern teaching environment.
Elliott has not been that for decades - and if it doesn't get the BSF money guaranteed by Labour and guaranteed to be cut by the Conservatives it will soon become unfit for purpose. I want to see Elliott thrive, not fail. If you do too, reject the Conservative cuts and renew Labour's mandate to keep investing in our existing schools.
Labels: education and children, Elliott School, Roehampton, West Putney





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