Funding

The campaign for school funding has been impacted by the Covid-19 crisis which has seen the already-stretched budgets of schools and colleges under severe strain.

Maintained nursery schools are under serious threat.

Here is the latest on school funding from the NEU

Previously

In his Spring Statement, the Chancellor failed to end budget uncertainty for schools. His boast that the economy is in recovery prompts the question of why he cannot address the issue of school funding now 91% of primary schools and 94% of secondaries have had their per pupil funding cut.

The NEU joint general secretaries’ had written to Damian Hinds urging him to face up to the “national emergency” of the education funding crisis.

More details can be found here

91% OF SCHOOLS TO LOSE OUT UNDER THE GOVERNMENT’S SCHOOL FUNDING PROPOSALS

Unless the Government allocates additional money, schools and academies will continue to lose huge amounts in real terms cuts – schools have already been cut by £2.8bn since 2015. Head teachers are speaking of the impossible job they have to balance the books and offer the best education for all children. Yet there is worse to come.

These cuts will hurt us all. They will result, amongst many other things, in:

increased class sizes,
loss of school staff, and
cuts to extra-curricular activities and resources.

The education unions are calling on the Government to take immediate action to inject much needed money into an already beleaguered system and protect our children’s education.

Enter your postcode via the School Cuts website then take a look at the map to see how schools in your neighbourhood will be affected.

Then spread the word about this website. It’s about time we had an informed debate on school funding.

You can also find information on the School Cuts Facebook page.

The lobby of Parliament last week was very successful with almost 2,000 people taking part and over 400 MPs making appointments to meet constituents. We had 30 people representing Tower Hamlets schools and held an hour long meeting with our two MPs. Here are two reports: one from Jim Fitzpatrick MP https://www.facebook.com/JimFitzMP/ and the other from the East London Advertiser. We will be discussing the next stages of the campaign in the coming weeks.

Previous reports

The school funding campaign has hit the headlines again with this report of a letter going to two million parents from heads in a number of local authorities.

We need to keep up the pressure on the government to find the money to fund our schools properly.

The latest British Social Attitudes Survey shows huge public support for proper funding of our public services: 70% of those surveyed supported increased investment in our schools.

Giant postcards

London, United Kingdom – Wednesday 24 May 2017, NUT – The Big School Assembly at Mile End Park.

The tour of schools is continuing and we now have five postcards almost full of signatures, so we may have to start a new one.

We met with the Mayor and lead member for education yesterday and we are looking at a date in July when the Mayor and our two MPs will be able to join us in delivering the postcards to Justine Greening – we think we can get a lot of publicity for this.

The suggestion is that we do this one afternoon and that we ask schools to send a delegation of parents, children and staff. Please discus this with your head and let me know if you think this is something in which your school could take part.

London Demonstration – Carnival Against the Cuts

Fair Funding For All Schools have called a Carnival Against the Cuts in central London on Sunday July 16th 2017, which the NAHT, NUT and ATL are supporting.

There will be a short march from Victoria Embankment to a picnic with speeches and entertainment in Parliament Square.

The mayor and local councillors have said they will support this and help us promote it, we have also had a positive response from parents who were in contact with us around the Big School Assembly.

Although it is very close to the end of term, I hope we will be able to work together to encourage staff and parents to come along and would welcome any suggestions about how we might do this.