FUN0003

Written evidence submitted by Kevin Burnett, Bath and North-East Somerset branch of the NAHT

1. Funding is the number one issue that is discussed and worried about locally

2. It has been apparent that even the DfE acknowledge school funding is at least ‘tight’

3. Our members (Senior leaders locally) report that through lack of funding they have:

1. Reduced drastically the number of support hours available
2. Increased class sizes
3. Reduced curriculum choice (particularly at secondary school) / stopped particular ‘extra-curricular activities at primary level
4. Gratefully received increased donations from parents
5. Carried out work within school to avoid further costs on the budget – ranging from cleaning duties, caretaker duties in general (e.g. locking up), increased teaching commitments, school crossing patrol duties etc.
6. Put a halt on any maintenance programmes
7. Stopped any replacement of equipment such as books, science equipment and curriculum computers, software and other ICT hardware

4. As a result of insufficient funding there has been an increase in stress and pressure as the remaining staff have to continue to meet the huge demands of our high accountability system. [These demands exemplified by Nick Gibbs when he said that Head Teachers shouldn’t be treated like football managers.]

5. This in turn leads to increased Occupational Health referral and sickness absence – further adding to strains within the school as ‘supply staff’ have to be ‘inducted’ and the consistency of the children’s ‘usual’ teacher is lost.

6. Not only are staff being asked to continue to meet existing demands but ‘new’ demands are being placed upon them through such initiatives as ‘mental health support in schools’ and trying to ‘fill the gaps’ left by decimated external support services

7. Ultimately experienced staff who are unable to cope with the pressure and stress leave the profession (at least two examples of Head Teachers locally in the last six months) frustrated and angry at the ‘hopelessness’ of the situation.

8. With deficient funding affecting Local Authorities (around 49% of their budgets lost since 2010) there are no ‘external support services’ to aid schools – further exacerbating the situation (especially for the most vulnerable children)

9. External services that are employed by Local Authorities to ‘provide cheaper alternatives’ are finding it increasingly harder to do so – leading to a ‘race to the bottom’ on prices and the ‘Carillion situation’?

10. The ultimate shame of the funding crisis is that it is mostly a political choice! The Government has entered huge and costly structural change (Academies / Multi-Academy Trusts and Free Schools) at a time of austerity when the money should have been directed straight to frontline teaching. Even just taking the fact that it costs £25,000 to support conversion costs of a school from the maintained sector to an academy means that - considering just the 17,000 primary schools - the government has paid out £425million on changing a school’s name!!! Yet we all know that it is the staff that change outcomes NOT a name change.

11. At the end of the ‘noughties’ we had the ‘Every Child Matters Agenda’ where social care, health and education worked together in a more integrated way to deliver the services that matter to every school and to meet the needs of every child. The ultimate funding solution must ensure this way of integrated working is enabled once again and that the huge dissection of England’s school system into MATs be stopped and a more coherent vision based on area Local Authorities is once again reinstated. This will cater for all schools and all children. I can provide you with many examples of the way the MAT system is failing through numerous TES articles and local examples. Local Authorities also provide accountability which is severely lacking at present with any MAT structure. Who do parents turn to?

12. The new National Funding Formula (NFF) was a brave attempt at addressing the imbalance in funding per pupil. Sadly – once again – it was introduced without sufficient funding which has meant that the ‘biggest losers’ have been the school communities with the most vulnerable children. So far, the introduction of the new NFF has merely been like ‘re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic’

13. If any Committee member would like to visit some Head Teachers and schools in Bath & NE Somerset and explore any of the above points in greater detail, I would be very happy to assist in any way I can.

April 2018