College Principal warns of tough times ahead with funding at ‘crisis point’
Government cuts and taxes are crippling Frome College, principal Gavin Ball has said, and the school is facing having to cut subject options and increase class sizes.
Gavin Ball, who joined Frome College in 2012, has called Government funding reforms ‘outrageous’ and said it is ‘sad’ that the college can’t afford to help pupils with family support and mental health care.
The principal’s comments come amid a campaign by the National Union of Teachers, which says that in 98% of schools, costs are rising faster than their incomes.
Campaign figures predict Frome College’s 2019 budget could be £308,945 lower than the current one; the estimated equivalent of eight teachers’ salaries, and £377 less for every pupil.
In a recent newsletter Gavin Ball wrote, “Schools in Somerset and in the South West are at crisis point over funding. We have just received our budget for the new financial year and there are further cuts and further costs that we have to absorb without additional funding.
“I also need to stress that school funding doesn’t cover the costs of running a school; it doesn’t cover the costs of providing social care and welfare either.
“We are faced daily with an inability to get students and families help with medical tuition, mental health care support, family support or much else to be honest.”
The principal said the school has this year lost £40,000 of its funding for pupils who have low attainment or special educational needs, and that Somerset County Council has more than doubled the cost of some infrastructure services.
He added that the council has stopped providing the college’s broadband connection.
The college will have to pay an £18,000 apprenticeship levy for the year, which he called “yet another tax which will cripple us further”, and has received no money to cover increases in staff pay, the National Living Wage, or National Insurance and pension contributions.
The principal said schools in London get three to four times more money per pupil than Frome College does.
Funding changes are also expected to hit other schools in the town. Those most at risk, according to www. schoolcuts.org.uk, are Oakfield Academy, which could lose over £214,000, and Selwood Academy, which faces a drop of more than £147,000, a story Frome Times covered back in January.
Gavin Ball added, “With government creating more costs for schools and reducing our income, the proposed national funding formula will not improve funding in the South West for a number of years.
“It is my belief that schools should serve the local communities in which they are based. A school should be there to cater for all students regardless of background or ability.
“Removing funding from community schools to pay for additional un-required free schools, studio schools and selective education is outrageous.
“All schools that serve their community are now faced with cutting subject options/choices at GCSE, BTEC and A Level and larger class sizes, across all subjects.”
