Lancaster and Morecambe headteachers call '˜crisis' meeting

Several speakers will be addressing a public meeting at Lancaster Town Hall on Monday, March 27 
from 7pm, to highlight major concerns that schools are set to lose teachers while having to deal with bigger class 
sizes.

Organisers The Lancaster, Morecambe and District Primary Headteachers Cluster expect a larger crowd than the over 200 who came to a public meeting last Spring focusing on Assessment.

The organisation has predicted that school budget cuts in real terms meaning an average loss of £440 per child across the district, equivalent to the loss of around 200 teachers.

Sam Ud-Din, Lancashire Division Secretary for the National Union of Teachers (NUT), said the issue has not been resolved.

In addition, school funding has reached a crisis point due to it having remained cash static per pupil for several years already.

Mr Ud-Din said: “This government’s funding means inflation has eroded, and will continue to erode for the rest of this Parliament, every school’s ability to afford to cover real and ever-increasing costs.

“Every school is looking to see where it can cut spending.

“That will have to mean fewer teaching assistants (TAs) supporting children, fewer teachers teaching them, larger class sizes, more stress for pupils, parents and staff – whilst there is still turmoil in inappropriate assessment and curriculum changes.

“This deliberate damage to the national education system is bringing more and more voices together demanding that the government listens and changes course.”

Speakers at the meeting include Prof Gemma Moss from UCL, Institute of Education, Robert Kelsall, senior regional official Birmingham, NAHT, Ruth Ainsworth from Lancaster and Morecambe Parents Defending Education, Kevin Courtney, National General Secretary for the NUT, and Siobhan Collingwood, headteacher at Morecambe Road School.