Headteachers and school leaders march on Parliament to call for a fairer funding deal for Sheffield students

The group, who acted as representatives for 14 schools and multi-academy trusts operating across the city, marched on Parliament today to lobby MP’s and discuss the issues they are facing.

At a meeting chaired by Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield, they spoke frankly to Shadow Minister for Education, Mike Kane, about the impact the lack of funding is having on the children in their care.

He also heard how many of the schools are being forced to axe staff in a bid to reduce budgets and offer restricted options at both GCSE and A-Level as they are not financially sustainable.

The national funding formula, aimed at redistributing funding to historically underfunded areas, was introduced to help the situation, but headteachers say a ‘mis-match’ means that Sheffield does not get a fair deal quickly enough.

According to 2018/19 figures, Sheffield is the worse-funded core-city in England receiving £743 less per pupil than Manchester, £589 less than Nottingham and £478 less than Liverpool.

This is having a major impact on schools, with many losing valuable support staff needed to help vulnerable children and those with special educational needs, and is happening not only in Sheffield but up and down the country.

The day of action was spearheaded by Ian Read, headteacher of Watercliffe Meadow Primary School in Norwood, who wrote a letter to Education Secretary Damian Hinds MP after being forced to get rid of staff to save £125,000 over the next two years.

He lead a small group who met with Minister of State for School Standards, Nick Gibb, to detail their concerns and ask what is being done to avert the ‘education crisis’.

Paul Stockley, headteacher of Bradway Primary School, was part of the group. He said: “There were seven of us from all different sectors across Sheffield – special, secondary, primary and so on – and we all said it as it was.

“We were talking about the impact on real children, real schools, everyday and how we’re very concerned about the future and we’re on a cliff edge as we put it.

“He listened to it all respectfully and talked about 10 years ago and how we’re all going through austerity. There was a sense that he hoped we were at the end of that period and that they were going to start to improve school budgets.

“I hope he has listened and taken home some home truths of what it is really like to be in a school in 2019 but more specifically in a school in Sheffield where we are funded more poorly per pupil than many other parts of the country.

“And, we are in a climate of close scrutiny where we have the same expectations in Sheffield as the rest of the country but we’re trying to do it on less money.”

They were joined by Sheffield MPs as they went to Downing Street to deliver a petition signed by various headteachers from across Sheffield which called on the Government to ‘save our schools’.

Speaking afterwards, Watercliffe headteacher Ian Read said: “I am really pleased we came and feel like we’ve done what we set out to do, to make a bit of noise and raise public awareness.

“We’ve met two ministers, the Shadow Minister Mike Kane and Nick Gibb, and to be fair he listened and took on board what we said and it felt like he did recognise the pressures schools are under.

“I think we got reassurances that the increase pension cost will be in place. He was also saying that they are going to fight for money for schools in the spending review.

“We delivered a letter from pretty much every single Sheffield headteacher to Number 10, so again it is sending a message that all Sheffield headteachers are joining the national voice and just how serious this is at the moment.”

Last year The Star and Sheffield Telegraph launched a petition to call for a fairer funding deal for Sheffield schools.

So far it has gained over 8,400 signatures – to add yours click here.