Count your blessings for the #LittleExtras

2nd November 2018, 12:00am
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Count your blessings for the #LittleExtras

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archived/count-your-blessings-littleextras

Nothing says “welcome back” after half-term quite like a Budget announcement, does it?

Over the past few months, the profession has been working hard to lobby for extra cash to plug the gaping funding hole many schools are faced with. Indeed, thousands of headteachers marched (extremely politely, thank you very much) and pupils, parents, and granddads flossed. And what were they rewarded with?

Ooh, just a little extra, said Philip Hammond, who appears to be making a home for himself on the teaching profession’s naughty step, alongside The Michaels (messrs Gove and Wilshaw).

After looking very closely at the small print, our team of forensic journalists has found six ways (yes really, six!) in which the Budget would affect schools. Spoiler alert: it’s not quite the £20.5 billion promised to the NHS.

* £10,000 per primary school and £50,000 per secondary school for the “little extras” (please search for #LittleExtras on Twitter if you’d rather laugh than cry at this).

* £10 million for a “regional trial to test how to improve retention of early career maths and physics teachers”.

* £1.7 million for education programmes in schools to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

* £2 billion increase in funding for mental health services, which is set to include some cash for school mental health teams.

* Primaries will be the first beneficiaries of £200 million to pilot “innovative approaches” to delivering full-fibre broadband internet in rural locations.

* Last but not least, absolutely no clarity on how schools will be able to afford increased pension contributions.

Oh and by the way, Hammond has put £420 million aside for potholes, so there’s one positive: your school may be crumbling, but at least you’ll have a smooth drive there.

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