JEREMY Corbyn has vowed to tackle the "chronic" problem with funding in education during a visit to York.

The Labour leader set out his plans at Clifton Green Primary School a day after Prime Minister Theresa May addressed supporters in a closed-off part of the city.

Mr Corbyn spoke to parents and teachers and posed for photographs with children before speaking to The Press about his party's proposals to make sure schools get the cash they need.

 

York Press:

He is keen to move away from models used at the Water Lane school, which involves them selling supermarket waste at the end of the school day to raise money.

Mr Corbyn said: "I'm here at this wonderful school and over there they have a snack box at the end of the day for a snack on the way home, which is nice.

"That's all for school funds.

"Most schools around the country have got a chronic problem where the headteachers are put in an awful situation where they are deciding which teachers to get rid of, in secondary schools they are thinking of which subjects to cut or which special needs teachers go."

A website set up by teaching unions National Union of Teachers (NUT) and Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), shows the amount schools expect to lose by 2020.

The Press has previously reported how York High School is set to lose £248,236, Archbishop Holgate’s could lose £213,986, and Manor CE Academy could lose an estimated £209,541 over the same period.

However, Mr Corbyn made clear he will stop cuts hitting education.

He added: "I was talking to the special needs co-ordinator at the school.

"She's an absolutely brilliant women and so is what she's doing - inclusive education and supporting children with special needs.

"That's what you need in every school, so we are determined to make sure there are no more super size classes, that there will be proper funding for schools and all children in primary schools get a good, decent, free school meal at the middle of the day which they will eat together and they will remember that sense of inclusion with the rest of the class."

Adeola Durosaro, a mum with two boys aged nine and five-years-old, praised the Labour leader for visiting the school.

She said: "Having somebody to push school funding would be ideal because there's so much more to do.

"Him showing concern is a nice thing.

"It's good for him to take time out and talk to the teachers, parents and students."

Another parent, who declined to be named, added: "He thought the snack box was a good idea, but said he hopes schools wouldn't have to rely on that to help fund them."