The level of government funding has left a £3.5 million black hole for school budgets in Hounslow, says a senior education official.

The claim by the corporate Director for Education has raised fears that standards will slip and the curriculum will suffer, because of the shortfall.

Robert Garnett, Director of Lifelong Learning, Leisure & Cultural Services, has written to the Education secretary Charles Clarke, calling for more money to be made available, or a serious situation could become a crisis for schools and the young people they serve'', and an emergency meeting was held between all the secondary school heads in Hounslow, and Councillor Colin Ellar, deputy leader and executive member for education.

Cllr Ellar told the Times: It seems the calculations didn't work out in all the schools.''

Many of Hounslow secondary and primary schools now face a year of cost cutting. For many primary schools the shortfall is estimated at around £20,000 to £40,000 each. For the 14 secondary schools the hole in the budget totals £2,500,000.

Mr Garnett points to a number of implications: Schools are managing the situation by not replacing staff that leave. Staff losses are considerable. The effect of this is that the curriculum cannot be delivered satisfactorily and standards of teaching and learning are likely to fall. Many primary schools are having to adopt large classes and undesirable groupings. Staff cannot be released to undertake training on improvement programmes, since schools cannot afford to employ supply staff.''

Last week Education Secretary Charles Clarke sparked a row after blaming local councils for the schools' funding crisis, but headteachers across Hounslow said central government was at fault for the shortfall, and argued Whitehall chiefs had got their figures wrong.

David Brockie, Headteacher at Chiswick Community School on Burlington Lane said part of the problem lay behind the change in National Insurance and Pension contributions that have taken place this year, which means a 14 per cent increase in his school's wage bill.

The government has not done it's sums correctly and we now have had to divert our capital funds to pay salaries. This would have been money for repairs to the buildings, some of them quite urgent. We are postponing yet again what we have been postponing for many years. We have seen an appalling lack of response to the crippling problems schools are facing.''

Heather Sullivan, Headmistress at Alexandra Junior School, on Denbigh Road, Hounslow, told the Times: Hounslow as an authority has really supported schools. We get 100 per cent of the money given by the Government, so I was disappointed to hear Tony Blair saying Local Authority's are the ones holding the money. They put every penny into schools.

We've got £12,000 to spend this year on supplies, books and equipment, compared to £26,000 last year. I've got two members of staff leaving and I'm only going to be able to replace one of them, and that affects the overall ability to teach. We're all working hard to make sure standards don't slip.''

Roger Shortt, Headteacher at Hounslow Manor School, Prince Regent Road, said: We're having to use money for special projects to prop up our salary bills.''

After meeting with headteachers last week, Cllr Ellar confirmed fears over staffing levels: The situation was there wasn't a threat of redundancies, but there was a threat that teachers that leave would not be replaced. This may affect the curriculum. If two French teachers leave then there may be a problem teaching French in that school.''

-From The Hounslow Guardian

May 30, 2003 09:00