On the 18th of September I visited St. Thomas’ C Of E Primary Academy. I was joined on this visit with Mrs Pierpoint (the Head of school) and Miss Haycock (Assistant Principal).
I have now visited nearly half of all schools across Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove, and I am always so impressed by our brilliant children, young people and teachers!
This was my first visit to the school and it was a great morning with a brilliant Q&A session with children, as proud parents and grandparents watched on. It was also only two weeks ago, when Year 6 visited Parliament.
Many schools such as this one have had issues with school funding which is why I was happy to talk about the governments £700 million increase in the budget for schools. A major part of this is the £635 million through the Schools Budget Support Grant.
In February 2026, the Government also announced a £4 billion investment in SEND reform which includes plans intended to improve earlier and more inclusive support in mainstream schools.