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Funding

 
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Schools are at breaking point as funding is not keeping up with the expenditure schools face. The government’s funding commitment for schools is not adequate and equates to a real-terms cut in education spending. The situation is critical for schools, so NAHT is campaigning to:

Lobby the government to provide sufficient funding for the education of all pupils 

 

  • Support the School Cuts campaign
  • Lobby for provision of accessible and available health, social care and other therapeutic services to support pupils' educational progress and attainment
  • Lobby for sufficient funding for the High Needs block
  • Lobby for sufficient funding to support pupils with SEND in all mainstream schools
  • Lobby for more funding for early years education; including specific funding to stabilise and protect the maintained nursery school sector
  • Support the Raise the Rate campaign to ensure sufficient funding for students in sixth form / FE / KS5 education
  • Maximise the funding for pupil premium for schools through auto enrolment
  • Press the government to provide appropriate support to schools for financial planning and resource management
  • Develop a better understanding of the unique challenges facing small schools and lobby the government to ensure their long-term sustainability
  • Lobby government to introduce the hard funding formula

Lobby to ensure that schools have sufficient funds to provide a safe environment for pupils and staff

  • Press for the phased removal of asbestos from the school estate
  • Lobby the DfE to secure sufficient capital funding and restoration of the school estate where required
  • Press the government to ensure that health and safety regulations maintain the highest standard of safety within schools
  • Lobby the DfE to support members to effectively manage the school estate

A picture of small schools in England

While the funding crisis has affected all schools, small and rural schools have been particularly badly hit. Given the recent announcement of additional funding for schools, it is now more important than ever that the case is made for these schools.

Building on the work started at a fringe event chaired by Graham Frost, a head teacher from Cumbria, at this year’s NAHT Annual Conference, a survey was created to provide insight on the specific and unique challenges faced by small and rural schools, ensuring they are properly understood by the government.

The survey was sent to our members who are in small schools with 150 pupils or fewer on roll. 

Unsurprisingly, funding emerged as a major concern. Despite the respondents taking a range of actions to try and balance their budgets, with 67% reducing the number of hours of teaching assistants, the future remains uncertain for small schools. More than four in 10 respondents (42%) are concerned about the possibility of closure of their school. 

The findings also demonstrate that workload is an area of difficulty, with most teachers in these small schools leading on three or more subjects. To compound this, senior leadership teams (SLT) tend to be small, with over half (54%) of respondents not having a deputy or assistant head teacher in their school and 59% of leaders having a teaching commitment.

These figures will form part of the evidence base as NAHT calls on the government to address the specific challenges facing small and rural schools, particularly concerning the funding crisis so they can continue to thrive and play a critical role in their communities.

To read more about the findings of this survey, download the document below. 

First published 21 November 2019

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