Holgate Meadows: £2.4m deficit at 'Inadequate' Sheffield special school with teacher redundancies to come

A Sheffield special school poised to make at least 13 teaching assistants redundant has run up a £2.4m deficit in four years, papers show.

Staff at Holgate Meadows are facing job losses in two weeks after being informed last month the Parson Cross school was facing “significant financial hardship” over a “budget deficit and decline in pupil numbers”. It comes after the school was rated ‘Inadequate’ by Ofsted in March 2022 and remains in special measures after a visit this April.

However, the true extent of the special school’s losses has been laid bare in consultation papers shared with staff. They reveal how Holgate Meadows has run up a deficit of £2.49m over the last four years.

A source close to the school called the funding gap “unpayable, by any school”.

But the school says it believes its actions this year will reduce the per-year overspending to “around £200,000” so that it may be “written off” when it is academised.

Holgate Meadows is currently seeking to join Nexus Multi-Academy Trust.

It is understood the school had a surplus of £350,000 in April 2019, meaning the true losses more closely approach £2.7m in four years. The school was rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted at the time this surplus was in place.

In a letter to staff, interim executive headteacher Sarah Storer explains the budget deficit is due to “overstaffing owing to the number of learners who have needed 1:1 support that has not been recognised in their [care plans]”, the costs of alternative provision for children off-site, and agency costs due to “staff absences”.

The letter also claims the number of students on its roll has declined. In the past 10 years, the school has had an average of 90 pupils on its books, but this academic year it will operate with 76. This reportedly means there will be significantly less and “more selective” admissions in the new academic year – at a time when the number of pupils who need placements at special schools in Sheffield is “higher than ever”, with every special school in the city at capacity.

The letter further states the school’s alternative provision to teach children off-site is “not funded by the local authority,” costing £4,000 per week.

However, other costs not outlined in the letter include the £400,000 paid to the school’s former headteacher, Tony Middleton, between 2019 and 2023, while he was suspended ahead of a disciplinary hearing in February when he lost his job. He is understood to be challenging the decision.

Three interim executive headteachers and three principals were also paid salaries during those four years.

The school reportedly plans to make more than 13 teaching assistants and support staff redundant. It is feared some teachers’ jobs are also at risk.

None of the redundancies have affected the seven members of the school’s executive team, which includes an Interim Executive Headteacher, a principal, and three executive assistant principals.

The results of the redundancy consultation show how staff are not taking the situation lightly.

Paperwork seen by The Star show questions submitted by staff and answered by the school’s leadership team as part of the redundancy consultation process.

A member of staff asked: “Why not replace the children we are losing (22)? Not replacing them is a loss of £20,000 per child, £440,000 loss of income,around 15 TA jobs!”

The school replied: “The [school] has a verbal agreement with the local authority to hold our position at 76 whilst remaining to fund us at 95. This is to help us stabilise our position in the next academic year. We are yet to receive this agreement in writing.”

At the inspection in 2022, Ofsted heavily criticised its Interim Executive Board for not having a “clear vision” for the school, while students reported they did “not feel safe”.

In May this year, a new report from a follow up visit found the school was back on track and was a “more pleasant and calm place to be”, but it still could not yet be removed from special measures.