A multi-agency approach is essential for our children

There is little doubt that the funding announced in the Spending Round (DfE, 2019) is welcome, if somewhat lacking and long overdue. However, the Spending Round failed to bring the much-needed immediate relief that schools desperately need.

The much-lauded “end of austerity” and politicians’ apparent generosity are signs that an election is on the horizon. So, as manifestos are drafted and polished, now is the time to make the case for long-term, fair funding and investment in education. What is needed is – as the Education Select Committee has called for (2019) – a 10-year plan for school funding.

Within days of the Spending Round, Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, published her Manifesto for Children (2019). A number of the commitments that she wants the political parties to make in their election manifestos involve schools. They include: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service counsellors, police officers and youth workers in schools, adequate SEND funding, and – most controversially in terms of budgets and staff time – opening schools at evenings, weekends and holidays to provide sports and arts activities to support children’s mental health and social skills, and to tackle violence and gangs.