FOUR city schools will receive a share of over £450m for improvements.

The Government has announced £456m in additional funding as part of the latest round of the Condition Improvement Fund.

More than 800 schools will receive a share of the funding, including four in Worcester - Honeywell Primary School, Hollymount School, Christopher Whitehead Language College and Nunnery Wood Primary School.

Worcester MP Robin Walker has welcomed this additional funding.

He said: “Today’s investment from the Government ensures that British pupils have safe, well-maintained, and high-quality facilities in which they can benefit from our world-class education.

“That is why I welcome the news that the Government is investing an additional £456 million into our school buildings across the country, delivering over 1,000 building improvement projects, including at four schools in Worcester.

“Last week, I was pleased to share the news that England was ranked 4th in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2023. This accolade represents the excellent results of Government investment in our children’s education and shows that we must continue to ensure as many children as possible have the facilities to learn in.”

In total, 859 academies, sixth-form colleges and voluntary aided schools are set to benefit from the latest round of funding.

The £456 pot will fund over 1,000 projects which aim to provide pupils with “safer and warmer” classrooms and more energy efficient school buildings.

Overall, the Government has committed £1.8 billion of capital funding for the financial year 2023-24 to improve the condition of school buildings – including £1.1 billion for local authorities, large multi-academy trusts and voluntary aided bodies.

This announcement follows on from the 239 new school buildings confirmed in December as part of the Schools Rebuilding Programme, with 400 out of 500 schools and sixth form colleges now selected for rebuilds through the ten-year programme.

Minister for the School System, Baroness Diana Barran MBE, said: “Our Condition Improvement Fund has already completed over ten thousand projects, making a difference to pupils and teachers across the country. These projects help to create safer learning environments that make a difference to the quality of education for pupils.

“It’s hugely important that every school has access to high-quality learning facilities and these funding allocations will make sure that responsible bodies can start to plan ahead and get projects started to replace roofs, boilers and windows – so pupils and teachers can learn and work in a comfortable space.” 

It is not yet clear how much each of the schools in Worcester will receive and how the money will be spent.