Walsall MP joins battle for £1m school funding
Walsall MP David Winnick has called on the government to provide more than £1 million in funding to pay for improvements to a historic school.
Teachers at All Saints National Academy on High Street, formerly Bloxwich C of E Primary, will discover at the end of the month whether an application for improvement works has been successful.
The school is more than 150 years old and needs work costing £1.364m to bring it up to scratch.
The campaign has been led by Mr Winnick who visited the school after it was given academy status last year.
He said: "It was obvious the amount of work needed to be approved urgently, in view of the state of some of the building; the building in fact is over 150 years old."
Just last month he took a group from the academy to a meeting with the schools minister Nick Gibb, who was shown a video where the children spoke about the school, how happy they were to be there, but wanted to see the building much improved.
Mr Winnick said: "We were told that the application would be considered, with all the others, by the Education Funding Agency, which comes under the auspices of the department.
"I obviously much hope, like all those involved in All Saints, that the application will be successful.
"Indeed, given the state of the building, it would be difficult to understand if the decision is otherwise."
Since the meeting, Mr Winnick has received a letter from Lord Nash, the parliamentary under secretary of state for schools, who said the academy will know by the end of the month.
