Head teachers warn ministers to stop taking them for fools
HUNDREDS of head teachers have marched on Downing Street to demand ministers stop treating them like “fools”, as part of a campaign to secure extra money for schools.
Organisers claimed that more than 2,000 head teachers from England, Wales and Northern Ireland took part, double the number they had expected.
A delegation delivered a letter to Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, protesting over what they claimed were “unsustainable” funding cuts.
The letter insisted that while ministers claimed that schools were receiving “more money than ever before”, and that there were “more teachers being recruited than ever”, the reality was “an entirely different situation”.
The rally, organised by the Worth Less? campaign, aimed to tackle rising class sizes, the abandonment of subjects and extracurricular activities, a reduction in support staff, and the use of pupil premium funds – which are meant to support vulnerable pupils – to prop up a school’s overall budget.
Organisers said that the march was the first of its kind involving the people who are responsible for running schools and helping to set budgets.
Jules White, a West Sussex head teacher who organised the protest, said those marching were “joined by a common desire and, in many cases, desperation” to see their schools fairly and adequately funded.
He said the scale of the revolt was “unprecedented” and was a last resort after years of their pleas for funding falling on deaf ears.
Phillip Potter, the head teacher at Oak Grove College, in Worthing, said that the protest was “unprecedented, simply because head teachers do not take action like that”.
He said: “I can’t think of a single time in my career where a grassroots campaign like this has happened and has attracted so much strength and feeling.” Kate Williams, the head teacher at Longhill High School, in Rottingdean, Brighton, said: “I usually stay clear of public political views or stands but I can’t do that any longer.
“The reason for the change? School cuts threatens the quality of education in this country.” Head teachers wrote to parents across the country earlier this week to explain their absence from schools.
In March this year, figures from the Education Policy Institute revealed that the number of secondary schools in England running at a loss had nearly trebled from 8.8per cent in 2013-14, to 26.1per cent in 2016-17.
The Government said it was spending a record amount on schools.
A spokesman for the Department of Education said: “There is more money going into schools than ever before, rising to a record £43.5 billion by 2020, 50 per cent more in real terms per pupil than in 2000.
“Every school attracts more funding per pupil through the National Funding Formula, high needs funding has risen to over £6billion this year, and the 3.5 per cent pay rise we announced for classroom teachers on the main pay range is backed by £508million government funding.”