The new education boss is ‘not apologetic’ for prioritizing children on free school meals

Bristol’s new education politician has said he has “no apologies” for prioritizing children on free school meals. Environmental councilor Christine Townsend said she would put the city’s “most disadvantaged” children at the forefront of decisions about education change.

Bristol City Council could also pull out of a controversial government bailout deal on special needs education, according to Cllr Townsend, the new chair of the children and young people committee. The safety valve deal was signed earlier this year, reversing a growing deficit.

As the way the council is governed has shifted from mayor to committees, cabinet members have effectively been replaced by policy committee chairs. Cllr Townsend will lead the work of the children and young people committee, which will have a major say in Bristol schools.

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Speaking to headteachers and governors at the schools forum on June 4, she said: “My priorities haven’t changed, they never have. I am interested in our most disadvantaged and vulnerable children, and in particular children who are entitled to free school meals.

“There will always be those groups of children who experience disproportionality in everything. There will always be those kids I root for. So don’t be surprised when you hear that, if and when there is pushback around certain things.

“Coming from the local authority, I make no apologies for putting those groups of children at the forefront of all the structures, systems and decision-making that I will do. The new (council) leader, Tony Dyer, is also my fellow ward councillor. That gives you an indication of where this is on the agenda. I have known Tony for many years.

“As the chief executive for this area, I also attend a meeting twice with all the other (policy committee) chairs and the board leader and senior management. So that will be a very high level in the council where education services – and then all the other statutory and voluntary services, that multi-agency area – are discussed.”

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She added that she has a professional background in education and is a former president of the schools forum. She was later asked about the deal with the safety valve. Parents have previously raised fears that reforms to special educational needs and disabilities, which the council would have to adopt in return for government money, could lead to less support for their children.

Cllr Townsend said: “Before Marvin Rees resigned he was under the impression that we could, if we wanted to, get out of the Safety Valve. I’m still not sure what difference it makes if we’re in it or out. The money we enter is the money we enter.

“I think I would be able to say more if there were no elections. It may be that after the election, when things have calmed down, we will have a much better understanding of where the next government might stand in relation to children with additional needs. Both main parties are aware of the situation, so in my view they need to say something and do something about it.”

The safety valve deal means the Department for Education cancels most of the council’s £56m shortfall built up over recent years in the school budget due to the rising costs of supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities. Just under half of that money has already been paid to the council, with the rest to be paid in installments over the next four years.