As we campaign for a better future for our schools, it can sometimes feel like nobody is really listening. So at the start of this new year, we took a step back to look at just how much the education funding crisis had featured in the news in 2018. It turned out the answer was: a lot. Every single month of the year included significant media coverage of the funding issues currently facing our schools. Below we highlight just a few of the headlines. Let's make sure we keep sch

Schoolchildren ask for more than “little extras” in Christmas funding appeal to Government Hundreds of children from across Worthing have written a Christmas wish to the Chancellor and Secretary of State for Education asking for extra school funding for the new year. The wishes were written on the back of Christmas tree baubles featuring Phillip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Damian Hinds, Secretary of State for Education, sporting festive Santa hats. They were orga

Over 500 postcards written by West Sussex parents and school children were delivered to the Secretary of State for Education today demanding fair funding for local schools. The “Wish you would hear” postcards were written at school fairs and events over the summer and collected by the parent campaign group, Save Our Schools (SOS) West Sussex. Devastating effects of real-term cut in funding for state schools They highlight the devastating effects the real-term cut in funding i

We had a tremendous response to our call to share the Save Our Schools message at school summer fairs in West Sussex. With our fantastic ice-cream and stick of rock props (designed and made by Nora Dennehy) and enthusiastic parent reps at schools across West Sussex armed with leaflets, stickers and postcards for the children to write their wishes for their school, all that remained was for the sun to shine. And for once, it did! Take a look at our summer fairs gallery: All th

Thank you for flossing for funding with Save Our Schools (SOS) West Sussex on Friday 19 October 2018! ​Floss 4 Funding was a national day of action against school funding cuts. Kids and parents flossed and put it up on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. We used the hashtags #floss4funding #parentsteachersunite #budget2018 #stillnotlistening ​ We left messages demonstrating our school community's opposition to funding cuts, and on Twitter we mentioned @DamianHinds @PhilipHammondU

Local MPs have begun to assert that claims made about our schools’ funding crisis are inaccurate and refer to ‘myths’ being created (see Myth Busting: School Funding by Tim Loughton MP). However, independent analysis does not support this view. It is important that parents and our community have fair and accurate information about local schools, their funding and levels of staffing. In this article, we address each 'myth' in turn. Myth 1: The Government is cutting school fund

We recently got in touch with our local councillors to share where we are with our campaign for fair funding and to encourage them to get involved. This is what we said. We are getting in touch with you, following our very positive recent 'Next Steps' campaign meeting, that involved many key stakeholders in the area, including parents, headteachers, teachers, local councillors and school governors. SOS West Sussex and our large and growing group of supporters feel increasingl