School leaders have asked Bridget Phillipson to fund the government’s state school Latin scheme for six more months to help soften the blow of losing support.
The £4m Latin Excellence Programme (LEP), designed to broaden access to the typically “elitist” subject, was supposed to run until 2026. But the DfE’s decision to stop funding from next month has left pupils facing disruption and sparked wider uproar.
In a letter sent to the education secretary on Wednesday and seen by Schools Week, leaders of schools involved said that ending the scheme in February would place a “financial burden” on them.
It would force them to divert funds from already stretched budgets to continue Latin provision for the academic year.
MAT Future Academies – which spearheads the scheme, through its Centre for Latin Excellence – will alone face a £200,000 hit, the letter says.
Establish ‘sustainable’ way to keep teaching Latin
It also means reduced Latin GCSE availability and will leave teachers with “an immediate reduction in pay”.
Ending the programme early will also render the £2.4m that has already been spent on as “ineffective”.
The leaders said that funding the scheme until August would allow Future Academies and other schools to work out a “sustainable model” for schools involved in the LEP to continue offering Latin.
The letter was signed by Future Academies CEO Lawrence Foley and co-signed by 26 other school and academy leaders.
The DfE said axing funding to the Latin scheme is among “tough decisions” it has had to take as it seeks to plug an inherited £22bn “black hole” in public finances. The government is also scrapping its computing hubs, scaling back its languages scheme, and is ending its long-running programme to boost uptake of physics.
A DfE spokesperson said: “Our Plan for Change will ensure every child, regardless of background, gets a rich education that helps them achieve and thrive.
“This government is putting education back at the forefront of national life, with key priorities protected in the budget and an additional £2.3 billion announced for schools. But the £22 billion black hole we inherited means tough decisions are needed across the public sector.
“While a decision has been made not to continue the Latin Excellence Programme beyond the end of its contract, our expert-led curriculum and assessment review will ensure every young person leaves school ready for work, life and the future.”
