Government says parents shouldn't be worried about school funding

[noblegiraffe]

Gillian Keegan, current Education Secretary (you might not know this as there have been a few recently) was just interviewed by Sophy Ridge and said that parents shouldn't be worried about school funding.

School funding has been below 2010 per pupil levels for 13 years now. This has resulted in redundancies of TAs, support staff and teachers. It has resulted in subject choices being cut at GCSE and A-level. It has resulted in the school estate crumbling to the point where some school buildings are officially at 'imminent' risk of collapse, and there have been injuries to children and school staff where ceilings have fallen in.

Headteachers had to make further cuts last summer due to a late-announced unfunded teacher pay rise for September.

There is a shortage of TAs as schools can't hire due to being unable to afford competitive pay levels and TAs are choosing to work in supermarkets instead of schools.

There is a shortage of exam invigilators, again partly due to uncompetitive pay, and the government has been forced to relax ratios to allow exams to go ahead.

There is a shortage of teachers and now this year and next there is a devastating shortage of people training to be teachers, for various reasons including workload and lack of flexible working, but also uncompetitive pay.

Schools are also having to prop up the gaps left by the collapse of local services such as CAMHS and SEN support services who are now largely inaccessible.

We had a pandemic which adversely affected the education of children, and yet school funding levels remain below that of 2010.

How can parents possibly not be concerned about school funding?

We already have 7 fewer TAs than we had this time last year, which is probably 10 fewer than we need.

Yeap, we do HAVE to worry, because the education issue is not only about funding.
The attitude is there too.
And I agree with this poster, I have been more than shocked by the lack of basic knowledge of people with a brand new degree in a subject, really basic staff that I was told was not taught, but the attitude to training was the worst.
I am praying my DD does get a better approach

It is not only parents who should be concerned, is the whole of society. And very concerned.

I am incredibly worried about my child's secondary. Recent incidents:

• a ceiling fell in.
• around 1/3 of my yr9s lessons are taught by substitutes
• despite a report saying my child puts in loads of effort, great behaviour, does homework etc and started the school with really high test scores apparently they are now predicted only just passing grades at gcse in most subjects. (Wtf are the ones who started the school struggling predicted??)
• all extra curricular are at the absolute bare bones, there is no funding
• massive behaviour problems around sex and drugs
• not enough SEN staff and huge numbers of SEN and otherwise vulnerable children with significant needs coming up from primary due to not getting the support they needed there or from social services etc at a younger age.
• SEN and vulnerable kids frequently being involved with the behaviour problems and staff having no effective tools to deal with it due to lack of funding, staff and other services available to help

I have a child with SEN due to start in September. Dreading it.

Feel like this government has flushed my children's education down the toilet. I am really angry at how cavalier and callous it is.

This is not just a few bad schools. This is so many schools across the entire country. It's a major, major issue that we're going to have a really poorly educated workforce in a few years time.

I’m not a parent but am worried. Even just selfishly we all should be, these are the doctors, plumbers, cleaners, nurses, artists etc of the future and I need those.

I am very worried about my youngest starting school this year. He has has some moderate hearing issues, is virtually non verbal and rarely settles into activities or follows instruction at nursery. Apparently he doesn't qualify for 1 to 1 care at nursery. I'm expecting the usual kicking of can down the road by his EHCP assessors for enhanced care. He is due an assessment in a couple of months, but there is no guarantee he will get a diagnosis. Because he isn't aggressive they don't care, even if his life chances and wellbeing are impacted.

So much money is wasted on putting off, postponing and fobbing people off. I know extra care is expensive, but I wonder what a lack of funding costs in the long run in terms of mental health care, admin and all the professionals trying to refer to one another because they don't want to deal with a patient? It's madness. This system is very much broken. Not proactive at all and failing children spectacularly.

If snyone has been in this position, what do I do if his school can't cope with him when he starts? We both work full-time and can't drop hours or collect him all of the time, nor do I think we should. I think he still has a right to an education, it is the schools and LA job to place him properly and put support in place. As far as I'm concerned I have done my bit as a parent by seeking support for my child so the transition is as smooth as possible and it is between the LA snd school now.

What Covid (and 16 years teaching) has shown me is that there are an awful lot of parents who aren't that bothered about what happens at school as long as their children are in and they don't have to have them at home or sort childcare.

Not aware of anything, There really should be, shouldn't there?

I can get some links together later if that's any use.

School used to fundraise for nice things like visits, school trips & fun playground equipment.

Now we're doing it for school books and basic maintenance. Yes, I am worried.

It's a similar situation at my school. 1 teacher and 3 TAs are being made redundant, and we all know more will follow in the next year or 2.

Locally, I don't know a single school that isn't in deficit.

I think with the current government as soon as they tell me not to worry about stuff I'm immediately worried
DS1s school is seriously overcrowded in old buildings with issues left right and centre and a distinct lack of staff but so are all the other schools in the area unless you go private.
DS2s village primary school thankfully is fairly well funded due to the Church trust it's in making up the shortfall, they also rent out the buildings to the 'church' - I'm not keen on the huge religious push but it's what's keeping it all together atm so I'm not going to complain.

The DfE are holding an emergency webinar this afternoon because apparently telling school leaders that they don’t need to worry about school funding hasn’t worked either.

It’s like school leaders know what is going on in schools and with their budgets and the people running the country don’t have a clue.

Can anyone access that @noblegiraffe?

Think only headteachers.

https://twitter.com/ttradioofficial/status/1641414188198133760?s=46&t=vKGM6xpoeW3wdlaVVVagQA

The tweet says that there may be a virtual walkout on the webinar. Not sure how they’d do that!

I am surprised how little most people seem to care about what is happening. One can only assume it is because it is actually a relatively small percentage of the population who has children of school age or who work in education - and that only a proportion of those people are bothered! It will take some horrendous accident like a roof collapsing on a class to get any real interest in conditions in schools. In contrast we all access the NHS, hence there is real motivation for improvements. It is very worrying.

The responses to this thread prove that.

As a concerned parent. How do I find out if and when there are school redundancies? We have 2 x Full Time TAs per class at the moment and a team of 3 admin for a school with 150 kids.

We also have a Pastoral team (3 x FT non teaching staff)

There are 7 classes in the school.

I am concerned, sounds awful. Our redundancies publicly announced? Or does it happen quietly?

Are not our*

Don’t be concerned? What patronising wankers.

If Boris Johnson hadn’t driven the British economy off a cliff with his ‘hard’ Brexit and Liz Truss hadn’t crashed the pound maybe we could afford luxuries like basic healthcare and education.

🤬

Schools tend to keep quiet just what a state the school is in re staffing or resources. They certainly won't be openly advertising their turnover.

It's not always redundancies either. Staff leaving and not being replaced is quite common.

I'm amazed you are managing staffing levels like that @Freespiritwannabe. Are you a state maintained school or part of a Trust? If more than 20 members of staff are at risk of redundancy then there will be a consultation process, which as parent you would be informed of.

What many schools are doing at the moment are simply not replacing support staff (unless required un EHCP) if anybody leaves. That can be because of finances or because they don't get any suitable candidates or a mixture of both, TA and school admin roles are not as sought after as they used to be, as pay is not great

Just seen the webinar described as "absolutely shocking, patronising nonsense" and another head has left in disgust.

Going well then, Gillian?

Hey @toomuchlaundry - it's an Academy school.

It's a very popular school for hiring parents so most of their TAs and Admin etc are friends (or friends of friends!)

People don't often leave because they love being off in the school holidays. When someone retires there's an abundance of applications.

I am concerned for the school as a whole :( but also the impact redundancies will have on the community.

We are a big school. Just found out our office team of four will be 1.5 in September.

Plus teachers and support staff. Bigger classes, and some mixed year groups.

Cleaning hours cut.

Midday supervisor hours cut.

We'll live with the asbestos for a few more years.

immediately worries