State schools warn staff and course cut offs to cope with energy crisis

As reported by The BBC, state schools might resort to scrapping courses and staff as energy prices rise

Schools are struggling to find solutions amidst the energy bill crisis.

In Essex, Sweyne Park School faces a 346% increase in gas bills from the £130,000 it currently pays. While the school is equipped with solar panels, it is mostly heated by gas-fired boilers.

“It might be that we look at some of our courses and where we have small group sizes, we cut them,” says finance director, Simon Smith.

A poll run by the Times Education Supplement involving 121 head teachers indicated that 77% were considering minimising heating, approximately 29% would resort to cutting down staff while 53% would no longer look to onboard new staff members.

“If what we end up having to do is lose some staff because of those financial pressures, it will only create more burden on those that remain,” says Julia Upton, head teacher at Kesgrave High.

The Department for Education has however provided reassurance that budgets for schools would see an increase of £7bn in 2024 while the immediate rise in funding in 2022-2023 would amount to approximately 7% per student.