CREDIT: This story was first seen in the Barnet and Whetstone Press
More than two dozen schools from across the borough of Barnet have banded together to write a letter to the government in protest over proposed cuts under the new National Funding Formula, the Barnet and Whetstone Press reports.
It’s estimated that the formula could result in the loss of £23m in Barnet’s 121 state-funded schools by 2020, or £497 per pupil per year, as the government reforms the way it spreads education spending across the country.
The letter has been written by business managers and directors from a total of 29 primary and secondary schools to secretary of state for education Justine Greening.
It states that the schools are not opposed to a more even distribution of funding, but that a cut in budgets for Barnet schools could spell a fall in educational achievement.
The letter states: “We are already making savings, up to and including staffing cuts.
“We are not replacing staff who leave, cutting teaching and support provision, reducing spending on text books, and we will inevitably have to consider passing some of our costs onto parents.”
Spokesman for the group, Marc Lewis, who is finance director at the Wren Academy, on Hilton Avenue, North Finchley, said a letter had also been sent to the government’s Public Accounts Committee.
Meanwhile, the government is carrying out a public consultation into the funding formula which it says will make education spending more fair and transparent across the country.
Ms Greening said: “Similar schools and local areas receive very different levels of funding, with little or no justification. Patchy and inconsistent decisions have built up over many years, and mean resources are not getting to the schools and pupils that need them most.”
She added “This unfairness is seen right across the country. For example, a school in Barnsley could receive 50% more funding, with no changes to its circumstances, if it were situated in Hackney instead.”
Give your views in the consultation, which closes on March 22
The schools which have written the letter are: Bishop Douglass Catholic School, Wessex Gardens Primary School, Menorah Primary School, Menorah Foundation School, Martin Primary School, The Archer Academy, AIM Academies Trust (Deansbrook Junior School and London Academy), St Mary’s & St John’s CE School, Henrietta Barnett School, Foulds Primary School, Dollis Junior School, Hendon School, Wren Academy, Grasvenor Avenue Infants School, Underhill Primary School, St James Catholic High School, Monkfrith Primary School, Deansbrook Infant School, St John’s CE Primary School, Queenswell Junior School, Oakleigh School, Edgware Primary School, Moss Hall, Junior School, Hasmonean Primary School, Mill Hill County High School, The Compton School, Dollis Infant School, and East Barnet School.
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or connect with us on LinkedIn!
Be the first to comment