I enjoyed taking part in a virtual assembly about internet safety at Thames Ditton Junior School on Friday. The assembly was organised by Google and Parent Zone, an organisation which helps families to navigate the internet safely and confidently.

With everyone spending more time online at the moment, it’s important that we teach children how to benefit from the internet in a safe and secure way. This assembly gave me a chance to help with this, encouraging the children to “Be Internet Legends” by following some key tips to stay safe online.

Joining the assembly was also a good opportunity to thank all of the teachers and staff at Thames Ditton Junior School, who have been working so hard during the pandemic.

My thanks to everybody at Google, Parent Zone and Thames Ditton Junior School for inviting me.

Earlier today, I was proud and delighted to open Cobham Free School’s permanent site at Munro House with Michaela Khatib (the Headteacher) and Howard Morris (the Chair of Governors).

The site has been seven years in the making, so this morning’s ceremony was a big moment for the school. Michaela and the team have worked incredibly hard on the project and have done a great job to overcome all the challenges they’ve faced along the way.

This is a fantastic boost for children and parents in Cobham. At capacity, the school will be able to accommodate an additional 495 pupils – so this new, permanent site will also help ease wider pressure on school places across the borough.

It was very encouraging to hear that schools in Esher and Walton will be receiving a significant funding boost next year.

In 2021/22, the average primary school in Esher and Walton will receive £4,303 per pupil – a 4.2% increase on 2020/21. The average secondary school will receive £5,644 per pupil – a 2.7% increase. This investment will be a significant boost for our local schools and is particularly welcome given the challenging conditions they have been facing recently.

Importantly, the government has also raised the minimum funding levels that schools will receive per pupil. In 2021/22, all primary schools receive a minimum of £4,000 per pupil, and all secondary schools a minimum of £5,150 per pupil. This benefits the 15 primaries and one secondary in Esher and Walton which received less than these amounts in 2020/21.

As residents may be aware, the funding boost comes soon after Heathside Walton school – which will have a capacity of 900 pupils – received planning permission from Elmbridge Borough Council in June. The school will serve children in Walton and Molesey, and play an important role in easing the wider pressures on school places across the borough.

Together, more funding and more school places will ensure that our local children in Elmbridge get the excellent education they deserve.

It was encouraging to hear that Esher Church of England High School is one of 31 schools across Surrey which will receive funding from the government this year to improve their school buildings.

The school will receive two funding allocations from the Department for Education’s Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) – one for replacement windows, and one for a roof replacement. Well-maintained facilities are crucial for a high-quality education, so this is good news for the school and its pupils.

In total, in 2020/21 the CIF is providing over £434m for nearly 1,500 projects across 1,243 academies, sixth form colleges and voluntary aided schools in England.

This is just one part of the government’s ambitious plans for England’s schools. Last month, the Prime Minister announced a transformative, ten-year school rebuilding programme, which will begin with over £1 billion for the first 50 projects in 2020/21.

This is in addition to the £14bn boost to school budgets between 2019/20 and 2022/23, and the government’s guarantee that, this year, all primary schools are receiving a minimum of £3,750 per pupil and all secondary schools a minimum of £5,000 per pupil.

As we move towards pupils of all age groups returning to schools in September, these measures will help to ensure that they receive the excellent education they deserve.

(Dom meeting with Anne Cullum, Executive Head Teacher of the ElmWey Learning Trust, Francis Nicholas – the Chair of the Trust – the Department for Education and Surrey County Council in January 2020)

It was great to hear that Heathside Walton school received planning permission from Elmbridge Borough Council’s Planning Committee last night.

Heathside Walton will be an excellent new state secondary school serving children in Walton and Molesey. With a capacity of 900 pupils, it will play an important role in easing the wider pressures on school places across the borough. The target date for opening the school is now September 2022.

It has taken a tremendous team effort to get to this stage. I pay tribute to Anne Cullum (Executive Principal at the ElmWey Learning Trust, which will operate the school), the Department for Education, and Surrey County Council for all of their work.

It was good to hear that Cobham Free School received planning permission for the conversion of Munro House earlier this week. This will allow the school to fully refurbish and equip the building, and is an important step towards getting the whole school moved into the new site.

Once delivered, Cobham children and parents will benefit from a great new secondary school, which will ease pressure on places across the borough.

On Friday I had a good meeting with Anne Cullum, Executive Head Teacher of the ElmWey Learning Trust, Francis Nicholas – the Chair of the Trust – the Department for Education and Surrey County Council about the plans for Heathside Walton school.

Heathside Walton will be an excellent new state secondary school serving children in Walton and Molesey. The key planning decision is on 11 February, and the team updated me on progress.

The new school will build on the success of Heathside Weybridge, providing high quality school places for local families and easing pressure on places across the borough.

Today, I had valuable meetings with Tim Oliver, Leader of Surrey County Council, and Michaela Khatib (Head) and Howard Morris (Chair of Governors) of Cobham Free School. There is a good team effort working on the ambition and plans for opening the permanent site at Munro House for the whole school – hopefully, subject to planning permission, by September.

Tim briefed me on the travel plans to manage access to and from the new site, and Michaela and Howard briefed me on the school’s plans. It was brilliant to meet some of the Sixth Formers who recently moved in to the new site. Now we need to get it ready for the rest of the school’s pupils to move in – which will be a huge boost for children and parents in Cobham and across the borough.

The new Conservative Government will be delivering on its pledges to increase schools funding by providing schools with an additional £14bn across three years, the largest funding boost in a decade. Next year – 2020/21 – this will mean a £2.6bn increase to core schools funding.

Analysis by the independent House of Commons Library shows what the Government’s action means for our schools in Esher and Walton. Next year the average primary school will receive £3,869 per pupil – a real-terms increase of 3.7%. The average secondary school will receive £5,118 per pupil – a real-terms increase of 1.7%. Both of these percentage increases are greater than the average across England.

Alongside this, the Government is pursuing an important reform in schools funding. At the moment, the Department for Education uses a national formula to produce funding allocations for individual schools, adds together the individual amounts for each school and, then, sends a lump sum to the relevant local authority. The local authority is then free to decide how that money is shared out between its schools, using its own formula.

From next year, local authorities will be obliged to give primary schools at least £3,750 per pupil, and secondaries at least £5,000 per pupil. The following year, this will increase to a minimum of £4,000 per pupil for primary schools. This is the first step towards making sure that schools receive the amount they are supposed to under the national formula. I will be meeting with Tim Oliver, Leader of Surrey County Council, to discuss the Elmbridge allocation shortly.

These measures will help to make sure we have the excellent schools that children in Esher and Walton need.