MP for Wealden, Nus Ghani, visited Beacon Academy in Crowborough today to congratulate the school on being successful with two applications for Government funding.
Nus and her team have been instrumental in supporting Beacon Academy on what has been a long journey to securing one bid in particular, to improve the roof at the school’s Sixth Form Centre. This process has been ongoing for almost four years and the successful outcome of the applications was confirmed last week.
The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) is an annual bidding round for eligible academies, sixth-form colleges and voluntary aided schools. The priority for the fund is to address significant condition need, keeping education provider buildings safe and in good working order. This includes funding projects to address health and safety issues, building compliance and poor building condition. In total in 2021-2021, the CIF will provide £483m for 1,466 projects at 1,199 schools. The only other school in Wealden to benefit this time around is St Mary’s in Maynards Green. The selection criteria favour bids from applicants with strong governance and good financial management.
Beacon Academy Headteacher, Anna Robinson, said:
We are absolutely delighted at long last to have been awarded the CIF for our Sixth Form Centre roof, and also the funding for phase two of the continued upgrades to our Fire Alarm System on both sites. I am extremely grateful for the support from Nus and the teamwork it has taken to get to this stage. These improvements will make a huge difference to not only our students, but the students who attend Grove Park School on both of our Beacon Academy sites. We are looking forward to working alongside Nus and her team moving forward with our future applications to further enhance our facilities at Beacon Academy for our students and the wider community.
Nusrat Ghani said:
I am absolutely thrilled about this brilliant news. This is a great win for Beacon Academy teachers and leadership team, and it will be of great benefit to local students. Along with my team I have been campaigning for two long years on behalf of Beacon Academy and it has been a long journey of many meetings with the Education Department. I am so pleased that persistence and perseverance has helped deliver over £1.3 million for Crowborough. After another extraordinary academic year, the confirmation of this success was much-needed good news for Beacon Academy. The boost in funding will ensure that students at Beacon Academy can thrive in an improved environment and better facilities, enabling them to fulfil their potential. It’s a good day for Crowborough, good day for Wealden and I look forward to cracking on and securing more support or our communities . I want to ensure that every child in Wealden gets the same education funding and opportunities as pupils across East Sussex and the rest of the country, and I will continue to lobby the Government to ensure better and fairer education funding.
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