The Schools & Academies Show’s Post

The School Cuts Coalition has sounded the alarm, warning of a £700m funding gap that could force schools to make significant cuts next year. While teachers and staff deserve fair pay rises, the government’s call for schools to find “efficiencies” to cover these costs is leaving many leaders facing impossible decisions. This growing crisis threatens the quality of education for students and the working conditions for educators. It’s a critical moment for schools, communities, and policymakers to come together and ensure that every child has access to the resources they deserve. https://lnkd.in/eAvafA4y #SchoolFundingCrisis #EducationMatters #SupportOurSchools #FairPayForTeachers #SaveOurSchools #SchoolCuts #UKEducation #FutureOfEducation #IntegrityEducationSolutions

There is plenty that keeps school leaders awake at night, but the single biggest issue (mostly because it predicates and compounds all the others) is the funding gap in school budgets. Every single person I know who leads a school, chose to do so to make a difference and improve things for our young people. Physically not being able to do so (and then held accountable for it) is obviously going to be catastrophic to the wellbeing of these people. You won't find a politician from either side that doesn't speak at length about the importance of education - yet here we are in an absolute national crisis almost entirely of their making. You can't do more with less. How can expectations keep going up while real terms funding keeps going down? There is no other business where this would be the case. It makes me just as angry as a father of two school age children as it does me as a serving Headteacher. School leader's wellbeing/mental health and our children's futures are paying the price of this every single day.

The cuts will accelerate the decline in enrolments, which began in the 1980s as the result of the deliberate weakening of public education by Labor and Liberal-National Coalition governments. https://ow.ly/yrZF30sBKMm

The government has approved teacher and leader pay rises of 5.5 per cent, and will hand #schools £1.2 billion towards the cost of covering them. But leaders will have to find some of the money themselves, prompting warnings that hard-up schools will struggle to afford the rise. However, the four teaching and leadership unions have warmly welcomed the rise, which is above current inflation. Here’s what you need to know: https://hubs.la/Q02JHKWm0 #PayRise

Further proof that the Labour attack on independent schools has been poorly thought through is the announcement that they may now introduce the change in middle of the next school year. Having initially said April 2025, before suggesting September 2025, the government have now stated that it may be January instead. They do not expect to confirm this until September, meaning families will start the school year unclear on the feasibility of their child completing the year at their current school. Is this how the Labour party intend to demonstrate a more thoughtful form of government? Also, has the government even considered the effect of having thousands of children entering the state education system in the middle of a school year? They will also have recruited zero of their intended 6,500 new teachers, meaning greater strain on an already struggling sector. Are these schools really resourced to manage an influx with one terms notice? This policy was always poorly conceived, now it looks like it will be poorly implemented too. https://lnkd.in/gYi3x8NU

Five bits of education news and insights that you might have missed this week 📰 The party that wins the general election faces a "painful set of choices" to tackle England's schools' squeezed budgets, according to a recent report. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e_bQijVN 📰 Latest DfE data shows that the teaching workforce grew by less than 300 teachers last year as record low numbers of newly qualified staff entered the profession and numbers quitting continue to rise 🔗https://lnkd.in/eQAi4uRn 📰 A BBC investigation has found the number of children moving to home education in the UK is at its highest level since the pandemic. 🔗https://lnkd.in/ebis39xc 📰Eight in 10 primary teachers spending own money to help pupils Increasing numbers of children hungry and lack adequate clothing, with two-thirds of secondary teachers also supporting pupils.  🔗https://lnkd.in/eMa4Xa-v 📰About that school finishing early on a Friday.... School bans after-work meetings and finishes at 1.40pm on Fridays, allowing staff to jet off on city breaks. Find out more about how one school is thinking differently about retention. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ehPp_ppE #SchoolBudgets #EducationNews #FridayFive #Education #GeneralElection #Campaign #ChildPoverty #Disadvantage #Place #Poverty #Retention #DfE #Ofsted #Recruitment #Vacancies #Research #SignUp #FreeRoundup #TVEd

"𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁" - Bridget Phillipson yesterday on the BBC talking about SEND. She said she wants to see more of a focus on specialist provision within mainstream schools... 🤨 And that Labour are giving schools £740m capital, to run alongside the additional £1bn announced in the budget to facilitate this. Think it's important to note that this £740m is part of the £6.7bn of education spending announced in the budget earlier this year. I'm really intrigued to see what the "SEND reforms" involve, I think it'll be a long-time till we see any type of action. But we remain positive, at the very least there seems to be conversation at the top and it can't be long till conversations start cross-party and with the education sector. I also wonder how mainstream schools that are already stretched, are going to magically cope with increased pressure to support more SEN children? #SEN #SEND #Education

Recent data by the School Cuts coalition (website ran by National Education Union, Association of School and College Leaders, NAHT - The school leaders' union, and supported by Parentkind and National Governance Association) reveals a £700,000 gap between proposed teachers' pay and estimated school budgets for the majority of UK schools. The coalition estimates that schools costs are set to rise by 3.4 per cent next year, even though mainstream funding will only increase by 2.2 per cent, and calls for extra investment in mainstream state schools. Click below for the full story. https://lnkd.in/eVxe7rYB #teacherspay #schoolfunding #NEU #SchoolCuts

According to Schools Week, the government’s £70 million programme to pilot the SEND and alternative provision reforms is “about nine months” behind schedule, with some changes going down like “a bucket of cold sick”. Worrying words, especially when you think how far £70 million could go in building suitable schools and ensuring SEND children have the education they need 😳 Want to read more? You can find the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ejU4xnX4

In a landmark decision, Chancellor Rachel Reeves recently announced that the UK government has accepted the School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB) recommendation to grant a 5.5% pay rise for teachers. However, The Department for Education has confirmed that this much-needed pay rise will not be extended to college educators, raising concerns around inequity in the education sector. Extending the 5.5% pay increase to further education staff is not merely a matter of fairness—it’s a strategic investment in the future of our education system. 📣 We support the inclusion of FE educators in this pay rise. If you want to show your support, read our article (https://buff.ly/4dmzdHu) for detailed insights and sign the petition below! https://buff.ly/46Bt2wE #EducationEquality #SupportOurEducators #PolarisPersonnel #NavigatingYourNextMove #SteeringYourSuccess #EducationRecruitment