Prime Minister David Cameron chose a school in Enfield to outline his education policy ahead of the next general election.
David Cameron and Nick de Bois pictured with Kingsmead School students
Speaking at Kingsmead School in Southbury, Mr Cameron promised not to cut student funding per pupil if the Conservatives are returned to government.
The Prime Minister said he was starting “an all-out war on mediocrity and promised to force more underperforming schools to become academies.
He said: “Good school places need money and we will make sure our schools are properly funded.
“With a Conservative government, the amount of money following your child into the school will not be cut. In Treasury-speak, flat cash per pupil.
“And as the number of pupils in our schools is going up, that means the amount of money going into our schools will do so too.”
He also praised Kingsmead’s leadership for achieving “some of the best A-level results in the country” since becoming an academy.
PRAISE FOR SCHOOLS
Kingsmead Academy is the Enfield North constituency and Mr Cameron was joined on the visit by the local MP Nick de Bois.
The Prime Minister admitted his plans meant government support per child would not keep up with inflation over the next five years.
He added: “But I think that schools have demonstrated, brilliantly, over the last five years that they can be more efficient, they can be more effective, they can make their budgets, they can particularly make their budgets work better because many of them are now academies, and have greater freedoms and greater abilities to run their schools in the way they see fit.”
REAL TERMS CUT
But opposition parties said Mr Cameron’s plans amounted to a budget cut.
Labour’s shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt said: “The Tory claims on protecting schools are unravelling as David Cameron has been forced to admit that his plans will see a real-terms cut to spending on schools.”
Liberal Democrat education minister David Laws said it was an “unbelievably weak commitment” and added: “You simply can’t improve education while starving schools, nurseries and colleges of the resources they need.”