Education unions have warned that if school budgets are not increased, it will be “devastating” for children, as research has found that most schools face redundancies next year. Half of schools are considering cutting teaching hours and two-thirds say they should cut the number of teaching assistants, according to a survey of more than 11,000 schools by NAHT, the union for school leaders. Image: Classroom at Cooper Perry Primary School, Staffordshire Headteachers across the country have told Sky News they face the choice of cutting staff or going into the red as they struggle to pay for rising food and energy bills and a pay rise for teaching staff that must come out of existing school budgets . Speaking on condition of anonymity, a manager said she decided not to tell staff about layoffs until after Christmas. “We’re going to have to make massive staff cuts,” he said. “The amount of money we have to save is probably the equivalent of three senior teaching staff. We will also need to cut some support staff. We will have to look at reducing staff for any extracurricular activities. “Right now we’re paying for speech and language support … we should cut that and our youngest children really need that.” Explaining her decision to wait to tell the people affected, she said: “Staff know there are huge financial difficulties but we haven’t, in so many words, said we’re going to have to make redundancies and I’m not going. let’s do it until after Christmas. “They’ve worked so hard throughout the pandemic, all the time, and because we’ve had no funding for so long, staff have given up their time for free on many occasions and I just want them to enjoy their holidays without the threat of redundancy hanging over above them. “I didn’t go into teaching to give a less than good education. Once these cuts are made, the level of education in my school will not be good. “I feel sick and I feel horrible for the families in the community that we serve. I feel very, very worried about the future.” “It’s heartbreaking” Her concern is echoed by Emily Proffitt, headteacher of Cooper Perry Primary School in Staffordshire. “We’re in crisis, every school is in crisis, the cost of living is going up, the cost of wages is going up, energy prices, transportation, you name it, it’s going up,” he said. In the past 18 months, three teaching assistants have left her school for better-paying work. It cannot afford to replace them and says it cannot reduce staff numbers further. Read more: Kids struggling to talk after pandemic Girls typically get better grades than boys in class – why? Schools banning afros and cornrows ‘may be breaking the law’ Instead, it relies on donations from parents for new equipment. And it has increased some class sizes to 32 children. “For every child we have, we collect extra money in the budget,” he explains. “Ethically, it’s not great. We want to do everything we can to support the children in their education. That’s less one-on-one time for each child and an increased workload for my staff. “Vulnerable children are most affected,” he added. “It’s heartbreaking.” Even when schools don’t make layoffs, they struggle to keep staff at the wages they can afford to pay them. ‘I love my job. I am saddened to have to move on for financial reasons” Emma Smith has been a teaching assistant for ten years. But with two teenage boys to support, she says she simply cannot afford to live on her £12,000-a-year salary. “I could go and work in a supermarket, stacking the shelves around what is obviously no responsibility,” he told Sky News. He made the decision to retrain as a driving instructor, but it wasn’t a choice he wanted to make. “I absolutely love my job and am saddened to have to move on for financial reasons,” she said. “I honestly thought when I started here that I would be here until I retired.” Union leaders are urging the government to listen to their concerns ahead of the autumn budget which is expected to include big cuts in public spending. “The most vulnerable will be hurt the most” Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, told Sky News: “Failure to increase budgets would be devastating for young people. “We can see the achievement gap widening for those who are most vulnerable to these other children right now as well. And it would be a disaster for the country, at the same time, we also need to invest in the future of this country, which it means investing in young people.” His warning is echoed by Julie McCulloch, policy director at the Association of School and College Leaders. “What we know is that those schools that have the largest number of children with special educational needs or other additional needs will bear the brunt primarily here and that’s because they simply won’t be able to employ as many teaching assistants and teaching assistants,” he said. “So what’s really worrying here is that our most vulnerable children and young people than ever are likely to be hit the hardest.” The Department for Education said: “We understand that schools face cost pressures, which is why we are providing them with £53.8bn this year in core funding, including a £4bn cash boost for this financial year. This is 7% per pupil increase in cash across all schools and high needs. “All schools will benefit from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, reducing the amount they need to spend on energy and giving them more certainty about their budgets over the winter months. We are also providing schools with tools and information to help them get the best possible value for money from their resources.”
