Playground Equipment for Schools Affected by Spending Cuts

The government spending review has revealed there will be more cash for schools, with education becoming a political priority for UK investment. Approximately 600 schools will be rebuilt or refurbished, with more playground equipment becoming available, meeting the needs of many schools hoping to expand their offerings to children.

A rise of 0.1% for school funding has left departmental sources skeptical believing that schools will little benefit from this once the funds have been channelled through the complex funding system. Labours education spokesman was convinced that due to the rising number of pupils the increase in budget will actually amount to a loss in funding per pupil in real terms and that recycling funding from one school to another will produce winners and losers which in turn will lead to a loss of teaching jobs for around 40,000 teachers across the UK. However the gorvernment says that the funding for the extra cash will come from cuts to the welfare budget rather than the educational budget despite the educational budget facing an overall cut of 12%.

It has also been announced that capital spending will be cut by 60% by 2014 after the scrapping of the 'Building Schools for the Future' programme. Schools also receive vital funding and support services from local authorities, which are also being hit by drastic cuts. Many will struggle to afford to help schools support children with special needs, or run truancy units. Schools will have to dip into their own funds to pay for these essential services.

Sports and arts were hit with massive headline cuts of 30%. Sports clubs that had been hoping to invest in improvements such as new artificial grass pitches or refurbished changing rooms, will likely have their plans scrapped. However proposed changes to National Lottery funding has left sports administrators more positive.