Volunteers to paint village school

Weston Rhyn Primary School is getting help from the local parish council to buy paint and equipment. But the parish council chairman says schools should not have to rely on charity and volunteers to maintain their buildings.

The school's acting head, Steve Morris, said it was part of the national picture of under funding in education and called on policy makers in central government to look at the continued shortfalls in school finances.

Parish Councillors received a letter from Mr Morris asking for financial assistance towards general maintenance by a team of volunteers during the summer holidays. They agreed to donate a sum of £450 although voiced concern that it should be Shropshire Councils statutory duty to fund maintenance of school buildings.

Chairman, Councillor Pat McGuinness , said: "We welcome the opportunity to help the Primary School which is seen as a vital community asset in Weston Rhyn but felt let down by the Shropshire Council for failing to upkeep the school ."

Mr Morris stressed that it was not Shropshire Council but national government that should be answerable.

"We were delighted to receive this very generous donation from the parish council and I would like to thank them sincerely, on behalf of the children, governors and staff.

"This sum of money will be used to offset the costs of paints and related materials, so that the building can benefit from such much-needed painting work. A team of parent volunteers will help us to complete this project over the summer - again, members of the school community have been fantastic in this respect by volunteering their time.

"Significant financial difficulties are hardly unique to our school; indeed I am aware of so many other schools who face real difficulties in making ends meet. Shropshire Council are, in fact, a supportive council offering continued good value for money on a shoestring budget. The issue here is the much publicised national picture of under funding in education. It is, and has been for many years, policy makers in central government that should be answerable for these continued shortfalls in school finances."

Phil Wilson, Shropshire Council’s service manager – Business Support, in learning and skills, said: “Local authority maintained school revenue budgets are distributed annually to schools, via a funding formula, from the Dedicated Schools Grant allocated to all English local authorities.

“The formula determines, for each school, their budget share. From this, the governing bodies of schools are delegated responsibility for establishing their annual spending plans, which cover all aspects of operating the school, including the costs of staff, resources, services and general maintenance of the school. Schools also receive annual capital funding, which is called Devolved Formula Capital, which can be used for building works, computers and other non-revenue expenditure.

“No details are provided on what the general maintenance is for which financial assistance is being sought from Weston Rhyn Parish Council. Given the scale of the sums involved, this would appear to be routine maintenance which would normally be expected to be funded from the school’s delegated budget.

“Shropshire Council receives an annual School Condition Allocation of capital resource for more significant capital works across the maintained schools estate. Examples of what this would be used for include secure lobbies, refenestration, roof replacements and more significant capital works. This funding has to be carefully managed and targeted at where it is needed most across the 91 maintained schools in Shropshire."