New Junior School Class Loses Teaching Assistant

My daughter has just begun Junior School, and she is happy and excited in her lovely new uniform.  On Friday us parents were invited to a meet the teacher session which was overall very positive.  Unfortunately we also found out that my daughters class has absolutely no teaching assistant support at all.  Last term we were told that due to cuts we were only to have a TA once or twice a week.  Now nothing.  The other classes in her year are more in need.

The teacher asked if anyone would like to volunteer to read with children, or help them with handwriting, or show them an interesting new skill etc.  I am the class representative, and I am asking the other parents if there is anything they can do to help.  Which feels positive and supportive.

At the same time I am angry and upset because I think our children will now be in a class which has to be very tightly controlled, the emphasis will have to be on rules, boundaries and discipline because how else can one teacher manage thirty 7 – 8 year olds?

My daughter was 6 two weeks ago.  She is one of the youngest in her class and school exhausts her.  She is clever and sociable and so she is coping well, but I worry that she is showing signs of stress.  She’s only seven!  She is angry and withdrawn some afternoons after school.

I think this is a good opportunity for schools and parents to bond, and to show mutual support.  I really love our schools, I don’t want to feel angry like this.  I hope I can do something to help.

How can we survive?


As Chair of Governors of a small one-form entry primary school, I have just come back from a Finance & Premises sub-committee meeting, tearing my hair out and wondering how on earth I can make a difference to the appalling lack of funding for schools this government is providing.

2 years ago, as a new governor, with a brand new Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher, I oversaw a complete staffing restructure – actually make that 3 staffing restructures – in one academic year.  We had a forecast of being £750,000 in deficit within a 3-year period.  The reason being? A lot of children with SEND, equating to the need for more support staff, a lot of teaching staff that had been at the school for many years, all at the top of their pay scale and ever growing pension costs.  But most of all, while salaries, pensions and other costs increased, funding for schools remained static for very many years.  Indeed, two years ago, our staffing costs made up 96% of our total income.  The benchmark figure for schools is set at around 85%.

We took action.  We made many staff redundant.  We cut hours.  We restructured the timetable for teaching.  SEND children were not going to get the interventions that they needed but we, as a school, were not receiving funding for.  EHCP funding is a whole other issue.  We rescued our financial forecast, but there was blood, sweat and many tears along the way.

Today, right now, we have a balanced budget.  But lo and behold, the National Joint Council has just announced a 2% pay award for all teaching assistants which in turn increases the “on-costs”.  Also, we are to expect a compulsory 2% pay award increase for teachers from September.  Again, the increase in “on-costs” and an increase in pension costs all around.

Of course our educators absolutely deserve this… and more in fact.  But where is the money coming from to pay for it?

2 years on, looking at our 3 year forecast, we see that our staffing costs will be at 90% of income for the next year and 96% in three years time.  We are straight back where we started 2 years ago with NO further increase in funding and worse – it is reducing, due to the new “Fairer Funding Formula”.  Fair?

We have cut costs wherever we possibly can.  Parents are providing toys and equipment for children to play with at break times.  We are now going to ask parents to buy school stationery for us via an Amazon Wishlist.

I do not know how our school can survive right now.  In 3 years’ time, we’ll have another whopping deficit.  And apparently, we’re in a pretty good situation compared to other schools, due to the action we took previously.

The education system in the UK used to be acclaimed.  If action isn’t taken soon, I fear it will be infamous.

Surely we now all have to stand up, be counted and campaign for more educational funding?

I’m in.  Are you?

This story is from Brent. 

Stressed at School

For half an afternoon a week, I used to volunteer at daughter’s infant school. Whilst, I know that my daughter’s infant school is/was an “outstanding school” with dedicated, brilliant, hard-working teachers, I was nonetheless shocked to enter the classrooms and see how chaotic a room of 30 five-year olds was. Spending time, week after week in the classroom, I came to the realisation that there were simply too many children in that classroom. Thirty, five-year-old children in one classroom struggled to sit still for the time enough time required for the teacher to talk. Teaching was regularly interrupted, understandably by children needing water, the toilet or simply wanting to share their thoughts about the subject being discussed.  Many of the children seemed bored by the lengthy times spent having to sit on the carpet or at their desk, being talked at and their attention clearly waivered. With such large classrooms the learning seemed often to occur by rote with little time for questions or exploration of the subject.  It seemed to me the ‘real learning’ for most of the children occurred when teaching support staff, who took small groups out of the classroom in groups of 4 and 5 to concentrate on a specific area usually reading or maths. I myself, helped children with their reading and maths in small groups of up four which worked well. The environment was intense, noisy and physically cramped and I often came home feeling slightly overwhelmed, thinking it was a miracle, that the children learnt anything.

I was therefore horrified to hear that in my daughters very well-respected junior school, the class size would now be 32 in an even smaller classroom. When I investigated further, I found that class sizes of 32 are standard across the city. As parents we have come to accept this as a norm but from my experience, it is clear to me that this it is not a healthy environment for children or their learning or for the teachers.

 My daughter is now 8 and (like many I’m sure) she continues to be a very lively, boisterous thing. At home she never stops moving and/or singing. She ‘gets’ what needs to happen at school so complies, but when I pick her up from school, I can see that it has been a struggle to sit still, to hold it together, to stop talking, to concentrate and to try and learn. Being at school for her clearly requires lots of effort and it means when we get home she can often be quite emotional with lots of mixed up feelings. I can see she finds school stressful and I am certain it doesn’t have to be this way.

 I consider our family lucky. Her teachers are brilliant, the school is one of the best locally and very highly regarded. I still have lots of contact with the school and I can see everyone at school she encounters tries their hardest to to do their best by her. However, there is no getting away from the fact, I feel that her class is too big with too many children with different, competing and at times complex needs.  The fact that 2/3 of schools locally have had to reduce school support staff really worries me. I know that, it is these staff that have historically supported teachers to ensure learning can happen for all the children. The fact that my daughter learns anything is a testament to the hard work of her teachers and the support staff. If our school were to lose any more support staff, I am certain my daughter’s learning would grind to a complete halt.

Finally, I wish school could be more of a joyous experience for my daughter. I wish it could be an experience filled with a sense of wonder, pleasure and discovery, rather than an experience she simply must endure. It makes me sad for her and for the children of her time and I worry that collectively as parents we are allowing the government of the day to fail them.

Begging for school supplies

All schools have mufti days. But at our school, instead asking for a small donation of £1 or so for a charity, mufti days for the last couple of years have been a bit different.

Once a term, children get to wear their own clothes to school in exchange for a donation of stationery supplies for the school office. They tell us in advance what they need, and everyone is supposed to get the same thing. Highlighter pens. Glue sticks. Last time, the ask was for a ream of paper each.

Imagine several hundred small children waddling into school, each struggling to carry a ream of paper bought by parents. And then an old trestle table by the front gate, creaking under the weight of dozens of packets of paper.

Reliance on parental contributions – but it’s not enough!

Commencing school year 2017/18 the school introduced a “voluntary donations” option for parents to make contributions as a direct consequence of budget cuts. At the same time they introduced a mandatory “school fund” payment of £25 for all parents (payable in one lump sum for whole school year or termly) for the same reason (offsite trips are charged in addition). Recently the swimming pool has been closed and swimming lessons ceased due to the repair, maintenance and on-going costs being prohibitive to on-going use (despite parental contributions to lessons). School trips have come close to being cancelled as they are no longer viable unless all parents contribute. Parents via the PTA have taken responsibility for maintaining and improving the playground (resources, planting, painting etc).

Cuts, cuts and more cuts

Swimming pool has been closed as on-going and repair costs prohibitive, despite parental contributions.

Trips close to being cancelled as can only go ahead if all parents contribute, previously contributions were voluntary, now compulsory. Additional voluntary donations accepted.

Governors asked school to undertake staffing review, many staff voluntarily resigned, retired or taking redundancy. Reorganisation and reduction of remaining staff.

Staff leaving and not being replaced.

Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTAs) covering teacher planning time and sickness absence, avoiding use of supply teachers where possible

Planned purchases for resources have been cancelled, PTA asked to fund if possible.

Caretakers had cleaning added to their duties.

If key stage 1 (KS1) teaching assistants (TA) absent no cover provided.

Printing and photocopying budgets restricted.

Resources in classrooms running low, e.g. glue sticks, pencils, whiteboard markers, pens….limited resources in the playground (lots of what’s being used looking shabby).

PTA paying for fun learning events for children that the school can no longer afford – pirate day, street dance day, zoo lab, Christmas party entertainers and many classroom games, books, toys and resources.