On Thursday 30th May, events are taking place around the country to raise awareness of the national SEND crisis and how the ongoing school funding issues are having a serious impact on those with SEND, their families and education providers. To highlight the issue in West Sussex, you are invited to bring a picnic (if you wish!) to The Greensward, Marine Drive, Worthing (next to the Sea Lane Cafe) between 12.30pm and 3pm. If you can click 'Going' or 'Interested' on the SEND Na

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

To keep the school funding message on people's minds over the long summer holidays, we had some help from the wonderful Alan Whyte, who runs Sussex Lego Club in Worthing, Shoreham and Portslade. Alan created a series of SOS West Sussex memes for social media that featured some familiar Lego faces. Here they are in all their glory. #schoolcuts

Nearly nine in ten Worthing schools have cut staff in the last year as a result of the funding crisis. A survey of local headteachers found that 87% have made cuts to directly employed staff over the last 12 months with half reducing the number of teachers, nearly 90% losing special needs support staff and 70% cutting teaching assistants. All said they have reduced the money spent on school equipment and more than half have held off carrying out work needed on school building

Local parent-led Save Our Schools West Sussex campaign group is heartened by recent signals from West Sussex County Council and MPs on school funding. While discussions and pledges are welcomed, the group urges immediate action to redress historic, long-term unfair funding levels in our schools. Time for more than words and meetings “We’ve been tirelessly campaigning for over a year on the funding issue and feel frustrated that so little progress has been made by those in pos