Schools consider shorter week in face of cutbacks

HEADTEACHERS in Wales are considering shortening the school day by shutting their schools early to save money, it has emerged.

At least one head has already drawn up a detailed plan for the drastic move, calculating it would save tens of thousands of pounds a year to send pupils home at lunchtime. A primary school

on Anglesey has told its local AM, Rhun ap Iorwerth, that it is looking at sending pupils home early on Fridays and stopping school dinners to save money.

Others have told the Association of School and College Leaders Cymru it is something they are considering with dwindling funds cut to the bone and nowhere else to make savings.

The idea, likely to anger parents, shows the level of “desperation” heads have reached after years of savage cuts, said ASCL Cymru.

The same thing has already happened in a number of schools in England. Bellfield Junior School, in Northfield, Birmingham, is the latest English city primary to announce the drastic step to cope with squeezed budgets and help safeguard jobs.

The move has triggered an angry backlash from parents.

“It’s ridiculous – schools are meant to be open five days a week in term time,” said mother-of-three Kirsty Williams, 28, a nursing assistant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

“It’s going to be inconvenient for a lot of parents, but it’s also a terrible thing to do. Where will it end?”

Georgina O’Sullivan, who is the carer for three grandchildren – Mackenzie, Macauley and Demi-Rose – said: “I think it’s totally wrong. Why should our kids have to suffer and lose out on school time? They are losing half a day of education every week.”

The changes mean she would have to collect the children at different times staggered through the afternoon from 1.05pm until 3.15pm.

Tracy Gallacher’s daughter, Emily, is due to start at Bellfield Junior School in September.

She said: “My daughter will be losing two hours of education a week. This decision also makes it difficult for mums who work part-time or are looking for work.”

ASCL Cymru director Tim Pratt said a number of primary and secondary school heads in Wales have told the association they have considered shutting early.

As many as half of all secondary schools in Wales are now in deficit and rising numbers of primaries are struggling to balance the books, the association estimates.

Anglesey Plaid Cymru AM Rhun ap Iorwerth said a small primary in his constituency has drawn up savings plans to shut early one day a week and calculated the move would save tens of thousands of pounds, alleviating its current budget pressure.

Under the plan children would be sent home at lunchtime on Fridays while teachers stay to prepare lessons. At the moment classroom assistants are paid to cover lessons for teachers to have statutory time away from pupils to prepare.

This would no longer be necessary under the plan, which has been costed by the head.

“A plan has been drawn up because they can’t find any more ways to save money through normal means, “Mr ap Iorwerth said. “The idea is that teachers would stay to prepare and children would be sent home at lunch-time on Fridays.

“The school has not got as far as saying they will do this but they have made the calculation. This particular school made a calculation that it would relieve them of immediate financial pressure and save tens of thousands of pounds a year.”

The AM said he could not identify the school but it was a small primary in his constituency.

“Speak to any head and they say they can’t make ends meet.

“They say they are in deficit, facing deficit or just managing. I don’t think the Welsh Government is taking this seriously enough.”

Mr Pratt said he didn’t believe any schools in Wales were at the point of putting into action plans to shut early, but described the fact they are seriously discussing it as “unprecedented and worrying”.

“Heads are desperate and saying, ‘What can we cut further?’ and saying, ‘Right, we can close early in the afternoon in order that we don’t have to heat the place, etc,” he said.

“No school I am aware of has ever closed in Wales to save money, but it is worrying people are now saying it.”

Mr Pratt said schools could possibly get around legal obligations to teach children by sending them off early with homework or distance learning, but warned: “It is right on the edge of legality.”

The National Association of Head Teachers urged the Whitehall government to provide more funding for education.

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “We’re not aware of any school giving serious consideration to reducing its core hours and it’s important any concerns are raised with the relevant governing body and local authority.”

SCHOOLS say they are struggling to make ends meet. It’s a mantra repeated month after month which is apparently falling on deaf ears.

It is estimated more than half of secondaries are in deficit and primaries are heading the same way.

Now it has emerged that some schools feel they have no option but to consider shutting early to save money.

If this drastic step – already taken by hard pressed schools in England – becomes reality we know we have hit rock bottom.

Headteachers have warned for years about the effect of cuts on schools.

It seems that no-one is listening. Not in Cardiff Bay, not in local authorities and not in Whitehall.

It is about time the powers that be started to listen and act. Our children are owed no less.

They deserve the best education we can give them in an increasingly competitive and uncertain world.

Barely a month goes by without hearing about funding problems in schools. Earlier this week the Association of School and College Leaders warned tens of millions of pounds meant for schools is sucked away by wasteful duplication and bureaucracy. Today we hear schools may shut early and scrap school dinners to make ends meet.

How have we got here? What is needed is not just a strong message to Whitehall that Wales needs more money, we must also ensure the cash we have is used well.

We need an all-Wales schools audit and an all-Wales school funding system. While 22 local councils decide separately how much money they give to schools and how much they retain or give to school improvement consortia, there is a lack of transparency and parity.

Meanwhile, it is increasingly evident the underfunding of our schools cannot go on.

Will it take inevitable parent anger over schools shutting early to get those responsible for the purse strings to act?

Schools and teachers have done a Herculean task getting good grades on less money. Can they carry on with ever more cuts?

Wales is embarking on what the Welsh Government says is a “National Mission” to improve education for all and bring in a new national curriculum.

Ambitious aims require work and funds. No one will see schools shutting early as a sign we are on the right path.