Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield headteachers speak out over funding squeeze
Frederic Osborn School headteacher Jed Whelan - Credit: Archant
Headteachers have revealed their fears about funding cuts that are due to hit their schools thanks to the Government’s spending squeeze.
Bishop's Hatfield headteacher Theo Nickson - Credit: Archant
Headteachers have revealed their fears about funding cuts that are due to hit their schools thanks to the Government’s spending squeeze.
According to Lib Dem county councillors, Hertfordshire’s schools will face a collective £23 million shortfall in 2016/17, after making £5 million savings in the current year, forcing some to make teachers redundant and reduce sixth-forms.
Jed Whelan, headteacher of Sir Fredric Osborn School in Welwyn Garden City. said: “Increases in employers’ National Insurance and pension contributions have not been reflected in the funding for schools.
“Schools also have seen their funding for our sixth forms reduced.
You may also want to watch:
“Circumstances are going to be very difficult for all schools, and there will be difficult choices to make.
“I was one of 40 secondary headteachers from across Hertfordshire who took our concerns to Westminster in July.
Most Read
- 1 Driving scheme for 10 to 17 year olds launches in Hatfield
- 2 The latest court results for Welwyn Hatfield and Potters Bar
- 3 Is Hertfordshire set to become the new British Hollywood?
- 4 Pregnant woman jailed for more than two years for killing cyclist
- 5 Enjoy the park but treat it with the respect it deserves, says manager
- 6 Rail passengers warned of three-day closure at London King's Cross station
- 7 Tributes to 'fearless and magnificent' former Queenswood School pupil and Peaky Blinders star Helen McCrory
- 8 Fantastic florist and art gallery opens in Hatfield following lockdown easing
- 9 Local COVID-19 contact tracing service now up and running
- 10 School donates textbooks to help communities in Kenya
“I am committed to minimising the impact, on both staff and the curriculum, of the efficiencies we will inevitably have to make”.
Theo Nickson, headteacher of Bishop’s Hatfield Girs’ School, told the Welwyn Hatfield Times: “They (the Lib Dems) are not exaggerating at all.
“Headteachers have been dealing with these issues for the last three years, and I think now it is really coming to a head.
“We are all managing our budgets very carefully.
“We are trying to get our message over to the Government.”
Although she is confident of avoiding redundancies thanks to advance planning, the school has already dropped some less popular subjects, and started fundraising to equip its new building, due to open in autumn 2016.
Ms Nickson warned that funding cuts were coinciding with increased payroll costs, while National Curriculum changes will force it to buy many new textbooks.
