It wasn’t funded! (DfE liars!)

[MrsMurphyIWish]

Am so sick of reading this: A Department for Education spokesperson said: "The offer was funded, including major new investment of over half a billion pounds, and helps tackle issues teachers are facing like workload."

0.5% was to be funded only, rest would be out of current budgets which my school is already running at a deficit. We currently are using portaloos as our toilet system doesn’t work! Our head couldn’t possibly afford to pay staff and fix our building.

A “task force” would help with work load. We don’t need another (over paid) committee to tell us what we already know - we already have so many rehashed strategies about “working smarter, not harder” under corporate speak titles. Not one strategy can put right Ofsted toxicity, dealing with suicidal pupils, dealing with starving pupils - this is what affects teacher mental health. We take the burden of other’s mental health.

Anyway, AIBU to wish the media would actually write the truth and challenge the government on their double speak?

I hope she gets paid well, at least!

During all the lockdown threads on education I always thought that you would never see Gav and Clav in the same room, as they always seemed to be saying the same thing and quoting the same rubbish about funding so had to be the same person

Gavin is long gone, Gavinova, sadly remains.

Think her DH was something in education.

The DfE did say it was only affordable for an average school. They pretended special schools didnt exist at all.

Totally agree OP, especially re the 'task force' ffs, as IF anyone who works in education doesn't know exactly what is - and what causes / pointless workload (mostly driven by the OFSTED culture of fear). Massive overhaul of OFSTED needed. It annoys me that teachers end up asking for / striking over more pay, as it's the only lever left for them to pull against the govt, but for most teachers, workload is a bigger problem than pay, and it's workload which is driving people to leave the profession.

@noblegiraffe your post about send funding is really useful and clear. There's just one bit that's not quite right.

Notional meaning that a certain amount of money is given according to how much SeN provision they expect you to have. (This is according to their calculations for size of school and average Sen for the country not what is actually in your school.)

So if extra children with Sen arrive there is no extra money for them although the school will have to pay for that provision regardless.

It is up to local authorities but generally the formula is localized not nationalized plus it takes into account FSM and low prior attainment. So it will lag by a year but if you have an influx of Sen that will be reflected the following year. Not much use in the current year!

@Zonder

I apologise. It was me.

I just know: the formula is flawed, doesn't cover what is currently needed and doesn't take that into account when people demand the care and/or try to deliver what's needed.

Parents in particular demand to know where the 6k is being spent. (I understand why as the government seems to make it seem like every child with Sen has 6k spent on them). But it's a fictitious 6k and adds to the issues!

@Littlebluebird123 that £6k is a bloody nightmare when trying to explain to parents (and for trying to fund anything)

In "silver linings to Tory lies" - I have a new example of equivocation for when I teach Macbeth.

"It WAS funded! (0.5%)"

No man of woman born shall harm Macbeth...

GiantPandaAttacks
I adore seeing Clavinova on threads as their work arguing that Brexit was going to be fabulous leads me to believe that she is a true blue Tory shill

I am pretty sure I didn't argue that Brexit was going to be 'fabulous' darling - I was arguing against the doomsters. My posts are/were more than 2 years after the referendum in any case. From a personal point of view I can't say that I've noticed any difference to my life pre-Brexit/post-Brexit whatsoever (Covid pandemic aside).

toomuchlaundry
During all the lockdown threads on education I always thought that you would never see Gav and Clav in the same room, as they always seemed to be saying the same thing and quoting the same rubbish about funding

I certainly remember suggesting several times in 2020 that many schools would probably save money due to lockdown, exam cancellations, school activity cancellations, fewer supply teachers etc... - noblegiraffe was adamant they would not save money. I see that my suggestion was not 'rubbish' at all;

April 2022
The average academy trust saw their reserves jump 29%, boosted by unlikely Covid windfalls.
97.4 per cent of trusts reported having surplus cash or breaking even in their most recent accounts.
70 trusts reported deficits, with a combined black hole of £22.4 million – but this was down from £42.1 million a year earlier.
Data for maintained schools showed a similar picture, with Covid fuelling an unlikely turnaround in their finances.
DfE figures showed the biggest annual decline in schools in deficit since records began in 2003, dropping from 12 per cent of schools to 8.4 per cent.
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/academy-trust-school-funding-finances-reserves-covid/

Crocodilekneecap
Desperately shoe horning in articles about Keir’s donkey field is her favourite

Oh yes - Starmer recently sold his 'donkey field' for an estimated £400,000 (purchased in the 1990s) - then if he becomes PM he is going to hike capital gains tax for everyone else after paying a lower rate himself. Not to mention hiking inheritance tax - I imagine that most teachers have parents who own their own homes.

Clav’s back !!!!! Tell us about Corbyn’s anorak Clav, how much did it cost ?

Evvyjb
"It WAS funded! (0.5%)"

The 0.5% funding was in addition to the funding in the Autumn Statement;

Schools were handed a surprise multi-billion pound cash boost in today’s Autumn statement...

The additional cash will also have to cover any pay rises awarded for next year, which have yet to be decided.
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/autumn-statement-2-3-billion-extra-for-schools/

Do you work in education Clav ?

noblegiraffe was adamant they would not save money

You usually post links....

noblegiraffe
You usually post links...

Are you saying you don't remember?

I post a lot. A link would be helpful.

How do schools pay the current year’s pay rises?

You mean the one from September? That came out of school budgets.

From making a couple of TAs redundant/not replacing ones that left therefore reducing support for children with SEN (quite possibly illegally depending on their EHCP) and making teacher's jobs harder and potentially making classroom environment more difficult.

Not paying for essential repairs e.g. proping up ceilings with wooden beems instead of rebuilding the roof that was made of cheap concrete in the 70s/80s/90s and has started to degrade.

Reducing essential costs even further. Some classes may well have run out of books/pens/glue sticks already with a whole term still to get through...but tough! Although even supplies wouldn't free up any where near enough.

By not buying any supplies for practical subjects. By not putting the heating on. By restricting printing/photocopying but also not having any textbooks… by encouraging admin staff who can wfh to do so during holidays and INSET days….

At my school: by cutting teachers. That's gone well.

At my school: not fixing the toilet system so the temporary portaloos have become a permanent solution.

At mine we have a whole block that’s been condemned so we’re using a temporary classrooms (which will probably still be here in 20 years).

The school I last taught in has temporary mobiles. They’ve been there for over 20 years.

It's a criminal system for small schools. If you only have 50 pupils, that 6k is big proportion of your overall budget. Getting a couple of new children with SEND part-way through the year can be disastrous unfortunately. Small schools already have far less flexibility in terms of funding.