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The ONLY weekly voice for secondary education Issue 224 • September 24 2009 Price £1.00
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High Reliability
What is a student worth?
Schools explained
Heads’ anger as funding per pupil ranges from £3,728 to £7,603
by Chris Parr Local authority funding
(Per pupil DSG 2009/10).
Headteachers have this week blasted
the “staggering discrepancies” in the
Top 10
High reliability organisations
way schools are funded, and have 1. City of London: £7,603*
are those that cannot afford
called for an overhaul of the system.
2. Tower Hamlets: £6,523
failure, such as air traffic
The call has been sparked after a
3. Hackney: £6,409
Freedom of Information request by
control towers or nuclear
David Laws, the Liberal Democrat
4. Camden: £6,373
power stations. We hear from
education spokesman, revealed that
5. Lambeth: £6,075
a research project that looks
as many as 2,000 schools could face 6. Islington: £6,043
at the lessons schools can a deficit this year because the gov-
7. Southwark: £5,961
learn from such organisations
ernment’s Dedicated Schools Grant
8. Kensington/Chelsea: £5,956
Page 15
(DSG) fails to cater for their needs.
In England, the national aver-
9. H’mersmith/Fulham: £5,831
age funding per-pupil across
10. Lewisham: £5,751
local authorities is £4,218 a year.
*City of London only has one school
However, this varies from £3,728
per pupil in Leicestershire to £7,603 Top 10 excluding London
in the City of London.
1. Manchester: £4,731
Hanham High School in Bristol
2. Nottingham: £4,658
falls under the jurisdiction of South
Gloucestershire, which sits second
3. Birmingham: £4,605
Young carers
bottom of the funding table, with
4. Slough: £4,582
£3,781 allocated per pupil. 5. Bristol: £4,520
Young carers can often
Head Peggy Farrington admit-
6. Liverpool: £4,484
struggle at school because of
ted that her school runs with a
7. Salford: £4,462
deficit almost every year.
their obligations and duties at
She told SecEd: “There is a
8. Reading: £4,428
home. We look at what help
feeling of injustice that children in
9. Knowsley: £4,414
is available for young carers
some counties are worth so much 10. Blackburn/Darwen: £4,405
and their teachers more than those in others. I’ve no
Pages 8 and 9
problem with schools in challeng-
Bottom 10
ing areas getting more funding, but
SecEd digital
when you look at the league table of He said: “The differences in backgrounds are more likely to Pat Walters, head of Holte
1. Leicestershire: £3,728
per-pupil funding, there seems to be funding between areas needs to be need extra support from their school School in Birmingham, said that
2. South Gloucestershire: £3,781
no logic behind it.” rationalised, in order to better recog- to make that a reality. That is why allowing some money to “roll 3. Herefordshire: £3,830
and SecEd
In Devon, the figure stands at nise the needs of individual schools. funding levels reflect relative disad- over” to the following year’s
4. Devon: £3,843
£3,843 per pupil – the fourth low- There is no doubt that schools in vantage in each area. It is also right budget was the only way to ensure
5. Wiltshire: £3,849
est. Ray Tarleton, head at South some parts of the country are seri- to give more to high cost areas.” consistently high standards of edu-
on Twitter
Dartmoor Community College, ously under-funded because they The debate has also reignited cation.
6. Northumberland: £3,850
said: “There are staggering discrep- don’t press any of the buttons that the row over schools that maintain She told us: “The only other way
= Shropshire: £3,850
Thousands of teachers are
ancies. The per-pupil amount in generate more money.” budget surpluses. I can think of to find this money 8. East Riding: £3,851
neighbouring local authorities can A spokesman from the The Audit Commission claimed will be by staff cuts, and so I have
reading SecEddigital, a virtual
9. Poole: £3,860
be hundreds of pounds. Devon is Department for Children, Schools earlier this year that around 40 per cent hoarded during the times when it
edition of SecEd, which is
10. Worcestershire: £3,865
one of the worst funded authorities, and Families claimed that, nation- of schools were “sitting on unneces- has been possible in order to try and
emailed out every week. and yet the costs of running schools ally, revenue funding per pupil has sarily large surpluses”. It said that offset future staffing cuts.”
You can sign up for free by
are the same.” increased by 76 per cent “in real schools in England had a total surplus Mick Brookes, general secretary The row deepened further
emailing
editor@sec-ed.co.uk.
Dr John Dunford, general secre- terms” since 1997. of £2 billion last year and chairman of the National Association of Head this weekend when schools chief
SecEd news and features are
tary of the Association of School and He added: “It is the case that not Michael O’Higgins accused schools Teachers, added that schools were Ed Balls unveiled plans to slash
College Leaders, said that the cur- all authorities will receive the same of “hoarding money”. acting responsibly by ensuring that £2 billion from the education budg-
now also available on Twitter.
rent funding system was “not fit-for- amount per pupil, but it is right However, this sparked a fierce funds were in place to pay for et, with some educationalists identi-
You can follow us at www.
purpose”, and called for a “clearer, to invest resources where they are response from the profession, with major purchases – even if that cash fying school surpluses as an area to
twitter.com/SecEd_Education
fairer formula for helping pupils most needed. heads saying that they had no choice was “carried over” from a previous save money. For more on this story
from disadvantaged backgrounds”. “Children from disadvantaged because of a lack of DSG funding. year’s budget. and other reaction, see page 3.
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