Schools facing catastrophic winter

[noblegiraffe]

Schools are starting their Autumn term facing an unprecedented funding crisis. Headteachers are becoming increasingly frantic in their disbelief that the government has done fuck all about it, and appears to be planning to continue to do fuck all about it.

There are few issues contributing -

The energy crisis - school energy bills are not capped, unlike household ones. To give an idea of the scale of the issue, Ormiston Academies Trust which sponsors 43 schools will see its energy bills rise from £5.1 million to £14.3 million. Grant Shapps, transport minister, says that schools could consider switching to LED lightbulbs.

Teacher and support staff payrises - the government have recommended payrises for teachers and support staff, but crucially will not be giving schools extra money to fund them. If schools give staff the recommended pay rise, they will have to cut services to fund this (even before you consider the energy bills)

The cost of living crisis - schools are facing increased prices just as households are. Food for the canteen, stationery orders, everything is more expensive. Sam Freedman tweets "Very rough calculation is that energy bills plus teacher pay increase plus higher food costs are going to add around £5bn to school budgets nationally. Just under 10% of the total budget. And none of it was built into the funding model."

On top of that, covid still needs to be considered. Last Jan/Feb schools were in chaos due to staff absences (the government widely trumpeted their call for an army of volunteers to step in, which didn't appear). At the end of the summer term, all the education unions wrote to James Cleverly, temp Ed Sec asking for a covid plan that included increased funding to schools for supply teachers to cover staff absence. Given that we haven't actually got a functioning government at the moment, I'm pretty sure he hasn't replied. Signs are that we're facing a bad flu season too, vaccinating school staff should be a consideration. Some schools already pay for the flu jab for staff, most won't be eligible for a covid booster, no idea what the impact of that will be. Obviously there will be pressure to close windows to keep any heat in, which goes against covid guidance for ventilation.

Some academy trusts appear to have large reserves which will help them weather the storm, most very much don't. twitter.com/ajjolley/status/1564562763443277825?s=21&t=nmM2Q_vFCmo5GzILNNKhfg

School leaders are reporting that they will have to make support staff and/or teachers redundant or pause recruitment, restrict heating, cancel school trips and extra curricular activities. This will inevitably have an impact on children, and on the quality of education on offer.

I'm not sure what either Truss or Sunak have said about the crisis facing education, all I've heard is wittering about grammar schools. An intervention is needed urgently.

www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/energy-bills-cost-of-living-crisis-schools-face-catastrophic-winter

It’s very worrying. I left teaching 5 years ago and things were financially tight then but this on top of the something like 50p her funding per child (don’t quote me on that) to catch up post covid is very worrying. I’m worried for education system, NHS and all public services.

Yes I keep talking about this, why isn’t it in the news? The NHS is in exactly the same boat too. Massive energy bills already which are doubling or tripling, no new money to fund pay rises. And Covid/ flu are going to be a big deal again this winter.

Our public services are imploding and there is no plan!!

I think one of the first things to be cut will be external professionals such as art and play therapists, speech therapists, educational psychologists etc.

Although, most EPs are so overrun with EHCPs at the moment that they will probably appreciate having less school casework to do.

As for the pay, I am astonished that the rises aren’t funded? Are your unions decent?

The energy situation is really worrying. It's definitely going to have a negative impact on school budgets on a massive scale.

I can't understand the apparent apathy about it all.

I am astonished that the rises aren’t funded? Are your unions decent?

The teachers' unions, despite what many in the right-wing press would have you believe, are pretty much ignored by the government in all things.

That said, they are planning to ballot for strike action in the Autumn. However, the strike will be because the pay rises will be pay cuts compared to inflation, during a cost of living crisis, after 12 years of below inflation pay rises. Teachers are not allowed to go on strike about school funding which is a political issue. I expect to see stories about greedy teachers wanting more money when schools can't afford to put the heating on.

Yes I keep talking about this, why isn’t it in the news?

Headteachers are often reluctant to speak out because they aren't supposed to be political, also going on national media and saying your school is screwed panics the schools' parents.

There's also the issue, linked in the OP, where big MATs who have the ear of the government have large reserves (not sure how they have built these) meaning that they don't need to speak out on their own behalf. HTs on social media are begging them to speak out on the behalf of other schools, but they're not.

It is extremely worrying.

Very interesting that big academy CEOs have been silent on this as well.

It's weird how it's not really being talked about.

It’s a shame someone like Marcus Rashford hasn’t got behind it-sadly that appears to be the only way to get anything to happen.

My 13yo son is asking me if schools will have to close for 2 days a week because they can't afford to open full time. Granted, he's asking because he wants 2 extra days at home, but it's shocking what new depths we've come to accept.

There's also the issue that schools are usually expected to pick up the pieces of society's ills, but are not going to be able to afford to do this.

Here's a video of a dinner lady talking about how heartbreaking it is having to turn away pupils trying to buy food because there isn't any money on their account and how she is dreading this getting worse. twitter.com/politicsjoe_uk/status/1564719745672384517?s=21&t=nmM2Q_vFCmo5GzILNNKhfg
Schools are also having to consider putting up the cost of school dinners which means a greater burden on parents who are already stretched.

We will be in the position of children who are cold and hungry at home coming into school to be cold and hungry there too.

It annoys me that there are some academy trusts with big reserves. The money is supposed to be for the benefit of the current pupils and if you follow financial advice anything over 20% is excessive.

Which means most schools are going to struggle. We worked so hard to get out books to balance by stripping everything back and now they wont.

It looks like maintained schools are more likely to be in deficit so this will be a push to acadamisation. There will probably be an energy bonus for schools joining MATs or MATs taking on schools.

Thanks for this. I agree that everyone is ignoring how bad things are going to get. Amid all the rising staff and fuel costs, our school has had per pupil funding cut. It’s going to be a very rough year.

I too have been wondering about this especially when I heard there was no price cap for businesses. Seems completely unsustainable. And have seen nothing about this.

@noblegiraffe

I absolutely agree with you.

In addition to all of your points, I note that in the state school I am currently employed in, staff have left in large numbers this year. Resignations, long term sickness (which impacts on budgets for hiring interim teachers) and staff reduction to meet budget cuts.

On several occasions since the March covid wave entire year groups have had to work at home due to lack of teaching staff. This is despite the local authority saying that this was only to be done in the case of covid absences.

Staff absences and resignations will keep impacting on children and many of these leavers are doing so because conditions are so terrible.

@noblegiraffe

I absolutely agree with you.

In addition to all of your points, I note that in the state school I am currently employed in, staff have left in large numbers this year. Resignations, long term sickness (which impacts on budgets for hiring interim teachers) and staff reduction to meet budget cuts.

On several occasions since the March covid wave entire year groups have had to work at home due to lack of teaching staff. This is despite the local authority saying that this was only to be done in the case of covid absences.

Staff absences and resignations will keep impacting on children and many of these leavers are doing so because conditions are so terrible.

It will be pupils with additional needs who will suffer most. As a PP said, schools will cut support from Speech & Language Therapists, EP’s, additional TA’s etc. The impact will then be seen in the classroom, with an increasing number of pupils whose needs aren’t being met.

@noblegiraffe that dinner lady has really got to me. I’ve always wanted universal free school meals for all.

As a teacher, I find this extremely worrying and I am not sure how my school will cope. There is already very little to cut!

On a personal level, I’ve heard so many people criticise teachers for ‘causing’ the crisis with the pay rise! I’m already considering leaving the professional because it was hard enough doing all the out of hours work at home with one young child and I really can’t see how I’ll be able to do it with two under the age of three. A pay rise isn’t what I need to encourage me to stay, it’s a complete reworking of the working hours and expectations! I don’t want to be asked my management why I didn’t do any work after I’d put my toddler to bed whilst heavily pregnant after physically being in work 7.30-5.30! Until this happens, the retention crisis will continue to rumble away in the background. As an example, I work in one of the few good/outstanding schools in my area, so highly sought after amongst local teachers. I have been unable to fill the last two vacancies in my department as we had no applicants! As recently as four years ago I received many applications, even for temporary posts. It’s all very worrying!!!

Another one surprised at the silence of the obvious implications of the energy crisis for schools, both in bills and in side effects like school lunch affordability.

Can we hope the govt's promises to do something will address this?

It’s scary. I am pleased Ds wears a lycra body suit under his uniform as it means hopefully he won’t feel the cold in school as much - it’s 2022 ffs that shouldn’t be a worry.

with budgets being so impossible for school this year then I can see things being really hard when it comes to SEN support as schools simply won’t have the resources. I am lucky Ds ehcp is water tight but many aren’t

It’s a worrying time for sure. Surely the govt have got to do something? A lot of my siblings are TAs or exam officers and I’m worried for them.

I also keep seeing it mooted that Kemi Badenoch is touted as the next Ed Sec which worries me. She was the one saying not long ago that schools had too many superfluous support staff! I dread to think how much worse things could get.

There are also other financial issues creeping through. For example, the money that we get for those on free school meals (including the automatic free school meals for KS1 children) is now no longer enough to cover the cost of those meals. Money is having to be reallocated from the wider budget to cover this shortfall.

I usually stick up on pens and a nice plant for my office when I go back, this year I've stocked up on thermal vests and fingerless gloves :(