School axes teachers in PM’s backyard
Head in May’s patch axes staff over cuts It faces £200k black hole
A SCHOOL in Theresa May’s own backyard is axing staff in a bid to plug a £200,000 black hole caused by Tory cuts.
It comes as education staff across the country reveal the desperate measures to save cash, including getting pupils to hoover classrooms where cleaners have been axed.
And experts warn of a teacher exodus as stressed workers abandon the profession due to Tory attacks.
The Piggott School in Mrs May’s Maidenhead constituency in Berkshire sent a letter to parents outlining a host of job losses and cost-saving measures.
Head teacher Derren Gray said: “We are not alone. Most schools are facing the same financial pressures.”
Despite the PM’s pledge to plough cash into education if she wins the schools face a real-terms drop of £3billion once inflation is taken into account.
Mr Gray warned parents he would not replace “some teachers or support staff to reduce spare capacity”, scrap certain subjects and raise charges for school trips.
Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner branded the heartelection,
breaking letter a “massive humiliation” for Mrs May. She added: “This lays bare the scale of Tory underfunding of schools.
“The PM has ignored warnings from heads, teachers, parents on the impact of her policies and now she is ignoring the people she’s meant to represent as an MP.”
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron added: “This shows for all their warm words the Tories are utter hypocrites.”
One parent at The Piggott School, in Wargrave, said: “I’m worried about the potential impact on the children.” Mrs May has boasted of her links to The Piggott School, which takes pupils from the age of four to 18, on her website.
She has visited the site and welcomed its switch to an academy in 2011, saying: “It is great that another local school has successfully converted.”
In other examples of schools suffering due to savage cuts, Furzedown Primary in Wandsworth, South West London, has asked older pupils to help clean classrooms after workers were axed. Head Monica Kitchlew-Wilson even had to get her husband to do odd jobs.
And she told how parents are buying new equipment and classroom material as the school faces a £100,000 loss in its funding.
She said: “It’s not right. State schools should be funded by the state.”
The think-tank Education Datalab warned teachers are flocking to leave the job because of the pressure they are under. Director Rebecca Allen said: “I think as a profession they’re exhausted. Surveys show the proportion of people thinking of leaving is staggeringly high.”
Figures published last October showed nearly a third of teachers who started in 2010 had left within five years.
Despite the cuts, a Tory spokesman insisted: “We will increase the schools budget by £4billion by 2022.”