Shropshire head teacher in warning over schools funding crisis
Schools in Shropshire are facing a funding crisis as the government and local authority withdraws vital money, according to a headteacher.
Philip Adams, leader of the Corbet School in Baschurch, said a lack of funding is having a knock-on effect on students' welfare, behaviour and staff recruitment.
He said: "The big issue, and something that all schools are facing, is that there has been a funding freeze since about 2015. In real terms it's been frozen since about 2010.
"We've also got the fact that many services that used to be provided by the local authority have now been cut. We now either have to pay for it or in some cases, we just can't access them now."
In 2015, the government withdrew the Academy Educational Support Grant, which according to Mr Adams, was worth about £200,000 at its peak.
"It slowly went down over the years until it just disappeared," he said.
"It was used to pay for things like educational welfare services which would support pupils with emotional issues."
He said in turn, the number of permanent exclusions at secondary level has doubled in some schools.
"Luckily we have not had any permanent exclusions at Corbet but I know other schools in Shropshire who are having to," he said.
"Sadly the services to help support these pupils are just not available anymore. When the government is doing an inquiry into why so many students are being excluded, the reason is quite simple."
Mr Adams said schools are also struggling to recruit staff because they cannot provide a competitive wage.
"Recruitment is getting harder and harder," he said. "It has always been a problem hiring maths and physics teachers but now it's even a struggle to get English and humanities teachers because other jobs are more attractive.
"We haven't got the money to fund pay increases and since about 2014, there has been an increase in the amount of National Insurance and pension contributions we have to pay. That has to come out of our funding budget so we can't afford to fund a wage increase."
Mr Adams recently met the MP for North Shropshire, Owen Paterson, along with representatives from St Martins School, The Marches School, Sir John Talbot's, Lakelands Academy, North Shropshire College and the Grove.
Each headteacher has now written to Mr Paterson outlining their individual concerns.
"He recognises the problem," Mr Adams said. "We had a meeting where we discussed the funding issues we're facing and it was interesting to hear from other headteachers. We're all very concerned.
"I suspect it's going to get worse as schools are asked to take more and more on without getting anymore money for it."
Mr Paterson will now pass on the concerns to Education Minister Nick Gibb.
