Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Bottom of the class
Heads write to 3 million parents over cash crisis.. but Education Secretary still refuses to meet them
MILLIONS of parents have been sent letters from head teachers in England warning of the shocking impact of school funding cuts.
More than 7,000 heads who wrote to families say that Education Secretary Damian Hinds has refused three requests to meet to discuss the crisis.
The letter went to more than three million homes yesterday, as teachers said they were at “breaking point”.
It was written by head teachers’ campaign group Worth Less? and has gone out across 65 local authority areas.
The note states that since 2010 state school funding has been slashed by 8% in real terms, with cuts of 20% for sixth form and post-16 pupils. The letter adds: “These issues... are common features across our education system. Levels of concern are widespread.”
The group say they are “dismayed” that Mr Hinds has refused to meet faceto-face three times since September. A junior civil servant wrote back saying his time is “heavily pressurised” and that he “must decline your offer to meet”.
Repeated attempts by the Mirror to speak to Mr Hinds yesterday failed. The group said: “Head teachers do not understand what issues could be seen as more important than the ones we are raising on behalf of schools, children and families.”
Siobhan Lowe, head of Tolworth Girls’ School in Surbiton, South West London, said of her cash crisis: “I’ve increased class sizes, cut services. I have cleaned, washed toilets, served in the canteen.” Last year, 2,000 heads attended a Worth Less? rally to No10.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, said: “The Tories have slashed school budgets for the first time in a generation, and there will now be a generation of children paying the price for austerity.”
She said House of Commons’ figures show that over £7billion has been removed from education since 2011.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of head teachers’ union NAHT, said: “School budgets are at absolute breaking point. Leaders are faced with having to make major changes to the way they provide education. Yet the Government’s response is one of institutional deafness.”
A DFE spokesman said: “School funding in England is at its highest ever level, rising from almost £41billion in 2017-18 to £43.5billion by 2019-20.”