Bigger classes and fewer teachers at 1,500 London schools

[editorialmoo]

Hello,

I am a parent at Edmund Waller School and a group of us are trying to get a better understanding of how cuts to school funding will affect our schools. We are wondering if any local parents know how this will impact their school?

Some schools in North London are being asked for voluntary contributions to support their school and it seems a 4 day week is on the cards for some schools in Cheshire grappling with budget cuts. As the extent of the school cuts becomes clearer it's getting better coverage in the press and the Fair Funding For Schools Campaign is picking up pace.

Here is an article about the impact on London schools.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jan/27/london-boroughs-bigger-classes-fewer-teachers-schools?CMP=share_btn_tw

If you have any information about the impact on your school or would like to see how you can get involved please get in touch. The Fair Funding For Schools Campaign are planning a National day of action planned for 25th February and we are hoping to mobilise some South London parents to support it.

Here is an online petition to sign and share in the meantime if you can:

https://www.change.org/p/rt-hon-justine-greening-mp-fair-funding-for-all-schools

Here are some official details about The Financial Sustainability of Schools inquiry:

https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/financial-sustainability-schools-16-17/

Thanks

[nunheadmum]

Having just started working in a secondary school, I'm amazed at how much of what the school does is really more in the sphere of social work and how little of it is funded. It's not just the fact that salaries costs are going up and funding down. There are a core of students who need a massive input to keep them getting close to the targets schools are meant to achieve - and schools daren't let them not achieve those targets or their external reports / assessments suffer and this hits student numbers and this hits funding.

And don't get me started on the madness that means that lack of planning means that extra schools are planned at the peak of capacity needs, which have fallen away by the time the schools come online.....meaning too many schools chasing the same kids and no one has the numbers they need to operate as well as they could if they were full.

More money needs to go hand in hand with a proper assessment of needs and proper long term planning. Sadly politicians are never around long enough to worry about anything more than short term headlines.

[editorialmoo]

There is a day of action on 25th February that local parents are involved with and if anyone wants to fill out the consultation I can link you to a great site that helps you fill it in in 10 minutes. So vital that parents are heard. It's our only chance of forcing them to find a better way of supporting schools without taking from others that also so desperatly need the funding.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/london-schools-to-have-budgets-slashed-in-disastrous-funding-change-a3463471.html

[uncleglen]

There is no will in the teaching profession to make schools work especially when there is a Tory government because the teaching profession is determined to bring any Tory government down. In the 1970s there were many members of the Worker's Revolutionary Party and the Socialist Workers Party who were teachers, and some were in senior positions in schools. The money for each pupil is given to the local council education department to disseminate under local democracy (i.e. you voted for them) and do not think for one minute that a Labour council will make any stringent cuts (or any cuts, for that matter) in its admin staff in order to pass more money to the 'chalk face'. This applies to local authority controlled schools of course.