On Thursday 9 February, Sheldon featured at ministerial questions in the House of Commons. It's not every day that a school is mentioned in Parliament and it provided an interesting insight into how the democratic process works.
The Learning and Skills Council, which funds our sixth form teaching, announced in the autumn that it was changing its funding process so that schools were given money for each student on roll in the preceding year rather than the current year. It might seem like a very technical change, but for a rapidly growing sixth form it would mean that many students would be unfunded in Year 12. The headteacher, Mr MacMahon. wrote to the LSC, the Schools Minister Jacqui Smith and our MP James Gray about the issue, pointing out that the change creates a disincentive to sixth form growth and contradicts two important strands of government education policy - the target of raising student participation beyond age 16 and the aim of encouraging the best schools to expand.
We had been getting the impression that our campaign was failing until James Gray e-mailed Mr MacMahon on Tuesday 7th February to say he had been drawn third in the ballot for education questions and could the headteacher help to phrase a question for him. The result was this exchange (slightly edited - the full version can be read in Hansard on-line) in the House of Commons on Thursday, which followed an initial question from Mr Gray about sixth form funding:
Mr. James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con): Schools in my constituency, which are growing fast, have raised a question with me. Sheldon school, a very successful school in Chippenham, will have 80 more pupils in the sixth form next year than it has this year, but because of the new Learning and Skills Council formula the funding is based on last year's figures. That means that the school will be £200,000 out of pocket. Will the Minister look at the LSC funding formula to ensure that fast-expanding schools do not experience a perverse disincentive to increase numbers in their sixth form? They should have an incentive to increase the numbers.
The Minister for Schools (Jacqui Smith): I recognise the specific issue raised by the hon. Gentleman. I have read the letters from the head teacher of Sheldon school. There may well be specific, exceptional circumstances-possibly such as those that the hon. Gentleman mentions-where it would be appropriate for the Learning and Skills Council to consider how such exceptional growth could be met. It is working on proposals, and it will present options to Ministers in the near future.
James Gray telephoned Mr MacMahon immediately after the exchange to report that it was extremely rare to get even a hint of a change of policy in an oral answer from a minister. It demonstrates that sometimes it is possible to influence policy making through reasoned argument. It also offers us the prospect of a much healthier budget next year which will benefit all Sheldon's pupils. Sheldon School is very grateful to Mr Gray for his intervention.
See the Hansard transcript here.