Two schools in the Forest of Dean have been awarded extra Government money to improve their facilities.
£778,391.46 of extra Government funding is coming to the Forest of Dean and has been awarded to Mitcheldean’s Dene Magna School and Lydney’s Dean Academy as part of just under £2.5 million of extra funding for schools across Gloucestershire.
The schools have been allocated a share of £560 million in Government funding to expand classrooms, upgrade facilities and improve the education of children across the whole country. This funding will ensure schools have well-maintained facilities to provide students with safe environments that support a high-quality education.
This funding will bring the total allocated to improve the condition of school buildings to £2 billion this year - paving the way for the new transformative 10-year school building programme starting later this year with over £1 billion funding for the first wave of 50 schools.
This comes from the £560 million announced by the Prime Minister last month as part of his New Deal for Britain, to help the nation bounce back from coronavirus by investing in infrastructure and skills and creating jobs. It is in addition to the £1.4 billion of capital funding for 2020-21 already announced in April and is provided through the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF).
Investing in schools and education was a key promise made by the Conservatives during last year’s General Election.
The £2 billion allocated to improve our schools this year is on top of a £14 billion injection into the school system over the next three years - recognising the additional work schools will need to do to help students to catch up.
I am pictured visiting Dene Magna and the Dean Academy in pre-COVID/social distancing times.