Education is a subject I take seriously. From time to time, schools enter special measures creating a time of uncertainty for staff, parents and pupils. This was the case for Heronswood Primary in Kidderminster two years ago. The school had struggled for a period and had just taken on a new principal, Matt Ascroft. He had worked as deputy head at a couple of other schools in Wyre Forest, both of which he had helped to bring out of special measures. When he went to Heronswood, he knew it was struggling and took on the challenge of turning the school round.
What has been interesting for me is that he and the head of governors, Jo Watson, have engaged with me at every stage of their transformation. I have had regular meetings with the school since Matt joined. At every stage, they have shared with me their plans and aspirations, and the difficult decisions they have had to make to turn the school around. The good news is that I have met with them again this week to learn about how they have achieved their objectives in a very short time. They have been, on their third Ofsted inspection, deemed to be a good school, something expected on a fourth inspection.
This is an incredible tribute to all involved: the staff have pulled behind the effort to make changes and have embraced difficult decisions when they could have rejected them; governors have supported Matt in what he wanted to achieve; but crucially, the pupils have risen to the challenge and shone both collectively and as individuals. Just as importantly, parents have been behind the efforts as well.
They have all done it at a time when, financially, things have been tight. This is, in itself an achievement and I am delighted to say that we have made progress on reducing the unfairness that Worcestershire based pupils face with the national funding formula. Regular readers will know that I have been working with other Worcestershire MPs to increase our funding and we have had a recent success with an increase of £97 per pupil per year funding allocation. This 2.3% increase is over and above our expected funding and reduces the imbalance we face. And it is a small, but important, reward not just to all at Heronswood, but to the whole of Wyre Forest’s education community.