Schools told to cut costs by reducing lunch portion sizes and taking money raised for charity

[noblegiraffe]

Consultants sent into schools to root out waste and save money have mostly been protected by the government’s refusal to release their reports. However some have been leaked.

Genuine suggestions to schools have included:

Saving money on supply teachers by herding 3 classes at a time into the dinner hall for supervision
Reducing portion sizes in the cafeteria
Taking 50% of money raised by pupils for charity
Cutting subjects at KS5
Replacing UPS teachers with NQTs

Added to the previous advice to save money on photocopying by not making colour copies, it seems clear that the government is focused on solving the school funding crisis by penny pinching and not considering the wider educational picture.

schoolsweek.co.uk/limit-pupils-lunch-portions-to-save-money-say-agnews-cost-cutting-advisers/

Think that this is a story that is being made a lot bigger than it should be. The "experts" are going into these schools and making suggestions as to how savings might be made and you do need to understand the background to the comments. So to replace UPS teachers with NQTs is a perfectly reasonable suggestion if the current teacher cohort are nearly all on the UPS scale. Not only are you talking about significant financial savings but by bringing in NQTs you are bringing in enthusiasm, new ways of thinking and in many case really good teachers.
Some of the other suggestions do on first reading feel just wrong, like taking 50% of charity money raised but again you need to know the background to it.

There is also a defensive situation here, in that the schools and especially the head teachers will not want to be told how money can be saved as they are usually things that the school feel they want to retain. However there is a need now for realism and some of the sacred cows need to be properly reconsidered not just assumed to be necessary. Those are always going to be around staffing as most schools have made the cuts they can in the other areas of spend other than staffing.

It is being covered in the Guardian. Focus currently on a protest march organised by a primary in Cambridge.
www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiD8pmTqK3hAhWIHxQKHaXRBB4QzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2019%2Fmar%2F29%2Fmarch-uk-school-funding-cuts&psig=AOvVaw3DXYD4DQKGKY_gkmafuz4r&ust=1554153784343051 sorry for long link!

Admission You're not a teacher are you? Getting rid of skilled & experienced staff to replace them with NQTs for financial reasons is not "a perfectly reasonable suggestion"!

Would you have surgery in a hospital staffed entirely by new docs & nurses, or would you want some experienced staff there too?

Want your car maintained by just the trainees, or do you wanted a skilled mechanic to check your brakes before you drive off?

to replace UPS teachers with NQTs is a perfectly reasonable suggestion if the current teacher cohort are nearly all on the UPS scale

What would you suggest happens to all the UPS teachers then? You can't make them redundant in favour of cheaper teachers as that is illegal with good reason. So what tends to happen is that SLT make their lives miserable in the hope they will leave.

Why should good teachers who work hard and produce good resulty be made to leave in favour of unproven newly qualified staff? What should happen to this pool of experienced teachers? Should they go and get a job in Tesco because nobody wants to pay for their experience?

Under what circumstances would be suggesting that a school take 50% of money raised for charity be acceptable??

by bringing in NQTs you are bringing in enthusiasm, new ways of thinking and in many case really good teachers.

Why is it experience, when it comes to teaching, is seen as a bad thing? Experienced teachers are tired, stuck in their ways and probably a bit crap I wonder if people say that about surgeons?

In my post I did not at any point say about getting rid of UPS teachers, what I said was replace. If there is any movement in UPS teachers leaving the school then the SLT should be considering what is the most appropriate replacement. That, if the school has lots of experienced teachers, could be an NQT, with a commensurate lower salary. That does not also imply that the school should be entirely composed of NQT staff as that would be ridiculous.
What I have suggested is simply good business sense and does not mean SLT will be bullying senior teachers to leave in good schools. Unfortunately just like in business there will be examples where the SLT do not behaviour in an acceptable manner but the interesting thing is that they were all teachers to start with!