HEXHAM’S MP Guy Opperman has described the new National Funding Formula as “the biggest improvement to the school funding system for decades”.

Education Secretary Justine Greening outlined a £33m funding increase for schools across the North-East after the Government allocated an extra £1.3bn to school funding nationally.

Proposals were first published last year, but provoked anger because they included widespread cuts. Now, a final version of the plan avoids cuts in all local authority areas. And Mr Opperman said the £4.6m boost for Northumberland would see schools in the Hexham constituency gaining an average increase of 3.3 per cent.

“This brings an end to the historic postcode lottery that saw huge differences in funding between similar schools in different parts of the country,” he said.

The Tory MP said small rural schools in Tynedale would especially benefit from the new formula and revealed figures which suggested first schools in Greenhead, Otterburn, Slaley, Wark and West Woodburn would all see their funding rise by more than 10 per cent.

The new formula would see an increase in the amount allocated per pupil; a minimum per pupil funding level for both secondaries and primaries; a minimum cash increase for every school and a £110,000 lump sum to help with fixed costs. An additional £26m is also included for rural schools.

Graeme Atkins, executive headteacher at Queen Elizabeth High School and Hexham Middle School, took the unprecedented step of asking parents for donations back in March to help combat what he described as an “emerging funding crisis”.

He said: “We welcome any additional funding for schools. We note the illustrative increases of 0.5 per cent for QEHS and 2.8 per cent for HMS for 2018/19.

“We are in the process of analysing the implications.”

Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said the announcement did nothing to reverse the £2.7bn funding losses which the National Audit Office found schools have suffered since 2015.