Proposed cuts to state school funding under new National Funding Formula Post Reply

[emibt4]

I couldn't find any mention of this elsewhere on the site, so I wanted to draw everyone's attention to the changes that will be made to funding for state schools (primary and secondary) under the new National Funding Formula.

Under these proposals the majority of schools in London (and elsewhere) will see significant cuts - Lambeth alone is set to lose another £25 million by 2019 and the cuts are across the board, so it will mean real changes to the school funding for your child - larger class sizes, less support staff and less facilities and if we cannot afford to pay our teachers and head teachers competitive salaries, this will obviously negatively impact on the quality of the teaching too.

For further information, please see the following link;
http://www.fairfundingforallschools.org
If you click on 'Act Now' you can access a button which provides an estimate of school cuts by postcode.

There are a few things that you can do to make your voice heard in objection to these proposals;

1. Sign the petitions at: https://www.change.org/p/stop-school-fu ... -education and https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/182705
2. Respond to the Department of Education Consultation about the National Funding Formula https://consult.education.gov.uk/fundin ... -formula2/
3. Write to your MP - you can download a template letter http://www.fairfundingforallschools.org/act-now.html
4. Share this information with as many people as possible - given how vitally important this is, very little attention has been given to it in the press and few people seem to know about it.

The consultation document needs to be completed by the 22 March 2017 deadline - there is information on how to do this on http://www.fairfundingforallschools.org/act-now.html

TAKE ACTION NOW TO PROTECT YOUR SCHOOL!

It is really important that as many parents as possible complete the consultation to get them to rethink these proposals, as it seems that they have been put together without adequate research, or thought and our children's education is at risk.

[3littlemonkeys]

Thank you for drawing attention to this. It's surprising how few parents seem to know about these proposed funding cuts despite the significant impact it is going to have on all state school educated children. I have signed the petitions and filled out the consultation and really hope as many parents as possible will do the same.

[Pud1]

These cuts are going to affect every single child in a state primary school, particularly in London. Schools have had cuts to this year's budget and they are struggling and there will be more in following years. Schools will be down to the bare bones - no extra teachers (eg interventions, PE, music etc), bigger classes and less resources. Support your schools. Sign the petition and do what you can for your own school.

[EBn]

Thank you so much for highlighting this really important issue which has the potential to have long term impact on education in London. We are incredibly lucky with the quality of state education that is available. There is a real danger that these cuts will undermine the last decade's progress.

For those that are concerned, alongside responding to the consultation and signing the petition we can also write to our MPs to express our concerns and ask that they escalate these concerns to the Secretary of State for Education. As the first poster mentioned you can download a template letter at: http://www.fairfundingforallschools.org ... -mps2.docx

The emails of local MPs are:
Battersea, Balham and Wandsworth
jane.ellison.mp@parliament.uk
Streatham
chuka.umunna.mp@parliament.uk

The deadline for the consultation is March 22nd and so there isn't much time.

[rooting4tooting]

If cutting budgets mean fewrer security staff, unproductive office staff, external agency games teachers and useless temporary staff then I'm all for them. Hopefully this will force our Kahn supporting socialist, "mediocrity for all in all we do" head teacher into retirement.
And fewer table tennis tables from our PTA!!!

[3littlemonkeys]

http://www.schoolcuts.org.uk/#/schools

You can use this link to search for your school and see what the predicted cuts look like - these aren't set in stone just what the forecast could look like.

[Wheresmyschool?]

I'm pretty stunned by how bad this is looking


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-39292344

From the above link...

But the EPI estimates that average losses will reach £74,000 for primary schools and £291,000 for secondary schools by 2019-20.

[Balhammumoftwo]

And it's not just affecting primary schools, it's secondary schools too!
Chestnut Grove could lose £1,317 and Dunraven £1,000.

I'm all for fairness and transparency in how schools are funded and London schools do receive much higher funds than in rural areas, but the biggest problem with this funding formula is the LACK of funding. The Government says it has protected Education spending but it has only done that in cash terms, in real terms schools are facing cuts because rising costs and inflation have not been taken into account.
They haven't increased the pot that they now want to divvy up in a different way. If they were increasing the funding overall it might not be so terrible, but they aren't. They have become obsessed with "fairness" over funding in my mind.

Oh and don't mention the £320 million they are putting into new grammar schools.

The National Audit Office said this in Dec 2016:

“Mainstream schools have to make £3.0 billion in efficiency savings by 2019-20 against a background of growing pupil numbers and a real-terms reduction in funding per pupil"

I have signed the petition, written to my MP and will be supporting some campaigning by fellow parents at Henry Cavendish Primary School to raise awareness on this issue.

[Wheresmyschool?]

Very scary

[lemondrizzles]

Hi guys, I just completed the questionnaire. Please let me know if you would like me to Private Message you my responses.

There seems to be a lot of questions that appear you need detailed info. I do not have that info for your however I have come up with a response that addresses that that you may find useful / helpful.

Edited to add - this image also gives some great advice as well on how to complete:

[Balhammumoftwo]

The consultation is lengthy and confusing isn't it? This is very useful thank you!

There's going to be a group of parents at Henry Cavendish Balham site this week at pick-up with information on this issue if any of you have kids there, please come along.

This facebook page is useful too:

https://www.facebook.com/fairfundingfor ... CH&fref=nf

[claphamama]

Consultation closes TOMORROW so I would urge everybody to complete today!

[SW11newbiemommy]

Absolutely. I agree taking part in the consultation is important for our children's educational futures. Against this backdrop I have pals at Thomas's, which has just bought a ski chalet and ones at Eaton House where the school has had lots of building work over the last few years and complaints about the food so changed caterers but just announced to parents that new mealtime crockery will be on display for them to inspect in the playground

[lemondrizzles]

Hi there, I've returned to live in the UK and did not go to school here.

Are Eaton House and Thomas private (i.e. fee-paying) schools?

Is the above funding re-jigging regarding public (i.e. government funded) schools?

[papinian]

Are Eaton House and Thomas private (i.e. fee-paying) schools?

Yes

Is the above funding re-jigging regarding public (i.e. government funded) schools?

Yes