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The Stories behind the Statistics

When school funding is cut, it’s our children who pay the price. It’s time all of us – heads, teachers, parents and students – share our stories, so that the scale of this national scandal can be understood.

Last year we collected some scary statistics about what schools in Brighton and Hove have been forced to cut as result of cuts to school funding. Now we want to collect the stories behind the cuts.

We want to hear your stories of how Government cuts are affecting your schools and your lives. Maybe music classes have been axed? Maybe the school roof is leaking? Maybe your school has lost valuable teaching assistants? Maybe class sizes are growing? Maybe you are are teacher who is thinking of quitting?

Share your story now

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The writing on the wall for the Chancellor:  Save Our Schools – Fund Our Future 

The writing was on the walls of London for the Chancellor last night as we projected“ Save Our Schools – Fund Our Future” against high profile buildings.  In an amazing awareness raising stunt, Steve Coogan  joined Save Our Schools parents to project hard-hitting motion graphics against the Science Museum, Tate Britain, the Treasury and the Houses of Parliament.
In a week that has seen head teachers descend on Downing St, politicians continuing to raise questions in Parliament, parents once again took to the streets to highlight the plight of our schools.   Actor Steve Coogan joined Save Our Schools campaigners to kick off a night of guerrilla actions at London’s Science Museum.
 We started outside the Science Museum because we have a proud history of producing amazing scientists: biologists, physicists, chemists, astronauts and astronomers. Yet with the education system in crisis, class sizes growing, buildings crumbling and teachers leaving the profession in droves, we worry about where the future Stephen Hawkings, Tim Peakes and Maggie Aderin-Pocock will come from.
We moved onto the Treasury, where we projected Phillip Hammonds face.  As parents are increasingly being asked to dig deep into their pockets to pay for school essentials like toilet roll,  he now needs to dig deep to fund the education that our children deserve.
Our message was loud and clear on the Houses of Parliament.  While the Government continues to deny there is a crisis, school buildings are crumbling, teachers are leaving, subjects are vanishing and children are suffering.
National Education Union joint general secretary Kevin Courtney says: “Save Our Schools alongside the National Education Union are acutely aware of the impact insufficient school funding  is having on children and young people’s education. Parent-led SoS know first-hand the problems that head teachers are facing simply to balance the books. No one should stand by and see our class sizes increased, subject choice reduced, extra-curricular activities cut and teachers and school staff not replaced.  Save Our Schools parents have worked tirelessly to bring this unacceptable state of affairs to the Government’s attention.”
Help us share this message widely. Share this post, write to your MP.   Download the projection and do your own!
Help us tell the chancellor that we do not believe their rhetoric,  he needs to save our schools and fund our future, starting with the Budget on 22nd November.  Take action like your kids’ education depended on it.
#budget2017
#FundOurSchools 
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Fund their future, fund our future

This week headteachers descended on Downing St, politicians continue to raise questions in parliament and we parents are once again taking to the streets. We all are sending the same message: Our schools are in crisis due to chronic underfunding. The chancellor needs to take steps to address the crisis – Save Our Schools – Fund Our Future.

We will join Steve Coogan to take our message to the streets of London! Follow our action on twitter at @saveschoolsuk

When challenged about school funding at Parliamentary Questions this week, Teresa May continued to deny that there was a crisis in education, instead wheeling out the same old line about record levels of funding. Our catalogue of the cuts [LINK] exposes the truth behind that rhetoric. It tells a sobering story of staff cuts; building work cancelled; arts, music, sport and mental health provision slashed.

As Jeremy Corbyn pointed out in Parliament, 5000 teachers from 25 counties [https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/nov/12/headteachers-philip-hammond-schools-national-funding-formula-tories] wrote to the chancellor this week in a hand- delivered letter asking for the money that is being taken out of the system to be returned. They warned of cuts to resources, soaring class sizes and narrowing of the curriculum.

We know that the much cited “additional funding” of 1.3 billion which was found from within the education budget does not address the funding crisis. The Institute for Fiscal Studies reported that all this additional funding does is to reduce the real terms cut from 6.5% to 4.6% between 2015 and 2019.

Teresa May claimed in parliament that she is building a Britain fit for the future – but with schools crumbling, teachers leaving, headteachers marching on downing street and education in crisis, we wonder whose future? By taking money from our childrens’ education they are stealing futures, not building them.

Our country faces an uncertain future, our children will shape whether we grasp that future or are overwhelmed by it: will we continue to play a major role on the world stage through our innovation, our entrepreneurialism, our industry and our creativity whether in science, technology, music, arts – or are we doomed to stagnation? The future generation will determine this. Now is not the time to be making cuts to their education. Come on Phillip Hammond: Fund their future, fund our future.