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?

Well I don’t suppose Tories MPs are worried. They can just send the kids private if the state school falls down around their ears.

Fuck me, that woman is full of shit.

@Freespiritwannabe You have 14 full time TAs in the school, and only 150 children?

Are you 100% sure they're all full time, as I just can't see how the school are affording to pay for this.

@Whinge Yes definitely! It's part of a huge Academy and Ofsted have never rated it anything better than "requires improvement" since it opened. They've inspected about 4 times in 15 years.

Perhaps the Academy are desperate for a better Ofsted report? Who knows!

It's a lovely school with no real issues. E.g The children all came home with an Easter Egg and an Easter craft bag today 😊

We aren't sure who funded it as the PTA definitely didn't (I'm on the PTA)

Just so worried about the school. I'm especially worried they've overspent massively (new head teacher) and wondering if we're heading for big trouble.

Will just have to wait and see. :(

We don't have 14 TAs and we've 1400 on roll

A school with 14 TAs should be massively concerned about budgets next year.

This has been brought up with specific regard to special school budgets - the unfunded support staff pay rise will really hit schools with more support staff, and special schools are very concerned as they have lots of TAs. So 14 TAs for 150 kids is going to present a funding challenge.

Is there anything I can get the PTA to focus on if this happens?

We have a lot of parent and grandparent volunteers who are waiting to be needed. The school knows they're keen (I think we have 11!) and said they'll be in touch if they're required but haven't yet.

The problems are becoming more visible. I had to stick duct tape along my window frames during the heavy rain we have had this week because it was pouring in. I managed to reduce it to one area that dropped straight into a bucket. Guess who bought the duct tape and bucket!

The accounts should be available on their website @Freespiritwannabe

96% of votes say that parents are worried about school funding. Perhaps Gillian should have an emergency webinar with them. I'd love a MN webchat.

That would be good @noblegiraffe

I've reported my post to suggest it to MNHQ.

This discussion between Sophy Ridge and Sam Coates about the Gillian Keegan interview is interesting. Sam points out that Gillian didn't seem to be on the side of unions or teachers, but also not on the side of parents. She appeared to be on the side of the Treasury and spreadsheets. Not very reassuring for an education secretary.

https://twitter.com/ridgeonsunday/status/1641176633880064002?s=61&t=U9XrcF693-JpMxeIueYG7g

@noblegiraffe That would be very interesting!

Feel free to also suggest to MNHQ!

I’m an ex-teacher and I’m so glad I’ve left. But I’ve stopped saying that in real life because I am so worried there won’t be any teachers left for my children. It leaves me with very mixed feelings. The state of our education system is terrifying.

THIS

Agree. But this is where a massive injection of cash & support for teachers to make up for this would make huge impact. Kids need support and extra curricular enrichment etc. like you get in private

Me again! I was just wondering if there are redundancies - are they announced now, during Easter, anytime in April?

Or can they be throughout the year?

(Sorry for the possibly silly question!)

Primary or secondary?

From being a primary parent I have always received comms about teachers leaving and appointments. As a secondary school teacher I’ve never heard of announcements made to parents.

Today I received a letter to say the Yr 2 teacher was leaving to take a post as SLT in another local primary school. We are a one form entry. That class will have supply to whenever. “Luckily” my son is Yr 4.

Running down public services is a core party of Tory party orthodoxy, as is telling you one thing and doing another.

The current bunch have absolutely no answers to the economic issues the UK faces beyond trying to protect the wealthy as much as possible. Sadly they will hang on until they call a general election because they know they are finished.

Primary 😔

Fucking hate the state of our politics

@Freespiritwannabe in my experience they will tell staff they need to cut staffing by x amount. They will ask staff to let them know if they are planning on leaving as they’d rather do it by ‘natural wastage’…. Then there’s a lengthy consultation process to go through. As a parent you would be unlikely to know about any of this from the four times I’ve been through it in a school.

She wears a 10k watch, homes in France Spain and London, Keagan couldn't give a flying fig about teachers, she compared them to delivery drivers, who whilst do a sterling & valuable job, are in charge of parcels not the education of our children & hence the future of the UK.

I watched the webinar. Govt statisticians have decided we have the money. How that helps my school I just don't know.

Headline grant up by 2% support pay up by 7% and teachers by 4.5%.

Obviously doesn't work.

Utilities quarter of a mill. Up 50%

@MrsHerculePoirot thank you! Do they ask the staff to not disclose the cuts?

Out of 14 TAs, 12 are parents of pupils.
All the admins are parents of pupils.
The PE teacher and pastoral team are all parents of pupils.
The onsite nursery is staffed by parents of pupils too.

☹️ so I'm assuming we'd hear something...

Bloody nightmare either way. Such a lovely supportive and friendly team