Devon MP pushes for education investment after high-level meeting

Rachel Gilmour speaks to Education Secretary

Tiverton and Minehead MP Rachel Gilmour has pushed for government support to create meaningful sixth-form provision in her constituency alongside better special needs facilities.

Ms Gilmour, a Liberal Democrat, made the requests during a meeting with education secretary Bridget Phillipson at which she was told that Tiverton High School would be included in phase two of the government’s school rebuilding programme. A timeline for it isn’t yet known.

Ms Gilmour also lobbied for other education-related improvements she says the constituency lacks.

“I raised the near complete lack of sixth form provision in my constituency,” she said.

“Aside from a handful of places at West Somerset Community College, children in Tiverton and Minehead who want to pursue further education have to travel to Exeter, Taunton or Bridgwater.

“In a large, and overwhelmingly rural constituency, where public transport is often of a poor quality, expensive, and erratic, having to travel for what can amount to hours in each direction every day is not sustainable.”

Ms Gilmour said these long journeys contributed to the “above average” drop-out rate in the constituency, in contributing to the Office for National Statistics rating the west Somerset opportunity area as 324th out of 324 in the social mobility index.

That statistic is the most recent available and was produced in 2017. The more recent mobility index in 2022 did not rank individual areas.

Ms Gilmour added there had previously been discussions about creating a sixth form at Uffculme School, and that she would work with the government if it thought it could support this.

Furthermore, Ms Gilmour said her constituency severely lacked facilities for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send).

“Therefore, [I asked] would the government be open to the upgrading of empty school property into functional, SEN-capable sites, and would there be any appetite from the Department for Education to explore this possibility within Tiverton and Minehead?,” she said.

The government announced in December that it wanted to create new specialist places for Send children in mainstream schools, pledging £740 million to adapt classrooms and to create more facilities.