The biggest challenges facing our schools in Penrith and The Border are those of distance and sparsity. We have the country’s smallest secondary school and its smallest sixth form college. The threat of closure is ever present for many of Cumbria’s smallest and most rural primary and secondary schools. We must do all we can to protect our schools: they form the life and heart of every village.
My colleagues and I have lobbied the Education Minister strongly to ensure the National School Funding formula recognises the unique needs of our rural schools, and provides them with additional financial support. I have worked closely with head-teachers and Cumbria County Council to establish a fair allocation of resources in Cumbria, favouring our smaller schools.
Rory Stewart, MP for Penrith and The Border, along with fellow Cumbrian MPs John Stevenson, Jamie Reed, John Woodcock and Sir Tony Cunningham, last week welcomed members of the Cumbria Youth Parliament to Westminster in the first meeting of its kind. Rory spent two hours in discussion with the young Cumbrians, Organised by Cumbria County […]
Rory Stewart MP is in discussions with Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education, about the “intolerable” situation regarding school transport for 16-18 year olds in Cumbria. The MP in discussions raised the importance and uniqueness of Cumbrian needs, and pressed her to make sure that Cumbria’s needs would be considered in the next comprehensive […]
Rory Stewart MP on Friday spent time with Wigton’s Nelson Thomlinson School’s Young Enterprise group of Year 12 students, who presented to him their ‘Cumbria Unwrapped’ product of edible products from the Cumbria. The enterprising students have identified a gap in the market for packaging Cumbrian-produced products in gift hampers presented on local pieces of […]
Local MP Rory Stewart on Friday visited Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith to learn about the school’s participation in the Sky Sports Living for Sport initiative. He was greeted by deputy head-teacher Rob Dawsion and participating students from Year 7 who were taking part in this new initiative designed to build young people’s confidence and life […]
Rory Stewart MP has kept up the pressure in his on-going campaign to secure guaranteed and affordable school transport provision for students in Cumbria, by lobbying Education Minister David Laws to look further at the impact of government and council policy on Cumbrian families. Since the County Council announced at the start of the year […]
As part of national ‘My Money Week’, Local MP, Rory Stewart, this week visited William Howard School in Brampton to learn more about the secondary school’s work as a local centre of excellence for financial education. The Penrith and the Border MP was invited to sit in on a year 7 class led by the […]
Rory Stewart MP brought along a surprise visitor on a recent visit to Armathwaite Primary School – James Astill, a distinguished Foreign Correspondent from the Economist. The visit was part of the school’s on-going programme of global learning activities. The MP and the Foreign Correspondent led a class on the subject of global conflict, poverty, […]
Rory Stewart on Friday spent time with Wigton’s Nelson Thomlinson School’s award-winning DigiPi computer software team. The Young Enterprise group of ten Year 12 students had identified a gap in the market for computer programming training materials for primary-age students. They have developed a unique program to train students as young as six in computer programming. Rory […]
Rory Stewart is calling on all secondary schools in Penrith and The Border to get involved in a new competition about addressing poverty worldwide. The Shape the Future competition, calls on young people from across the country to outline and present their ideas for the future of the Millennium Development Goals. This year the competition […]
Greystoke Primary school has this year marked it’s 175th anniversary, and Rory was among those celebrating the historic milestone, alongside pupils, teachers, parents and school governors. The Penrith and the Border MP was invited to talk on his experiences walking across Afghanistan, before engaging in a discussion about the country’s uncertain future. To mark the […]