Banners, an open letter, and a message from a six-year old: the school cuts campaign steps up

Heads in Tower Hamlets write open letter and schools in Brighton unfurl banners highlighting the scale of the cuts
12th May 2017, 5:51pm

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Banners, an open letter, and a message from a six-year old: the school cuts campaign steps up

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/banners-open-letter-and-message-six-year-old-school-cuts-campaign-steps
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Headteachers have ratcheted up their campaign for more school funding, with schools in Brighton unfurling banners spelling out the impact of the financial situation and heads in one London borough warning the cuts will “destroy” a generation of improvement.

Meanwhile, a six-year-old has written to the prime minister pleading for more funding.

In Tower Hamlets, 74 heads representing a majority of schools in the east London borough have written an open letter to political party leaders arguing the funding squeeze will “harm social mobility”.

The letter warns that the national funding formula and “sustained real term increases in costs” mean school budgets are becoming “untenable”.

According to the heads, Tower Hamlets will lose £33 million under the formula - a 13 per cent cut that amounts to £907 per pupil.

“We cannot see how we will be able to continue to provide our current level of education in the future with such drastic cuts to our funding,” the letter says.

“Nor can we see how we are going to maintain morale amongst our dedicated staff if funding is going to be relentlessly cut for the foreseeable future.”

Tower Hamlets is currently the highest funded local authority in the country, with pupils receiving £7,014 per pupil. The borough stands to lose money because the national funding formula is aimed at tackling the significant variation which exists in per pupil funding.

However, the letter says this would undermine the significant improvement in standards which schools in the borough have been able to achieve in recent years.

“Diverting funding from our schools and communities will destroy what has taken a generation to build,” it states.

The letter says that schools are having to turn to “reducing staffing levels, restricting curriculum provision, and increasing class sizes”.

“The reforms will punish pupils from the poorest areas and harm social mobility,” it adds.

Meanwhile, headteachers at almost all of Brighton and Hove’s schools have taken the unprecedented step of unfurling “Save Our School” banners outside their schools to highlight the scale of the cuts.

The banners, paid for by parents following a crowdfunding campaign, spell out the £14m cuts to schools the area is facing - £193,425 per school, or £487 per pupil.

A six-year-old from the city, Otis Carter, has also written to the prime minister to plead for school funding so his singing teacher can remain in post.

According to The Argus, Otis wrote the letter upon learning that freelancer Al Start would not be returning to work at Elm Grove Primary School in Brighton after this half term.

His letter to Theresa May says: “She can’t teach us anymore because our school can’t afford to pay her. She has taught at our school one day a week for the last nine years.

“If we lose Al who are we going to lose next! Please do not take away money from our school!”

This week’s Tes magazine features a funding cuts special, exploring the consequences of the cash shortfall being felt across the schools sector. It is on sale in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here

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