Talking Heads – School funding battle isn’t over

This week's Talking Head comes from Andy Ramanandi, Head Teacher at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Blaydon. Andy's blog post follows on from Monday's debate in Parliament, launched after the Gateshead Head Teacher Association's funding e-petition attracted over 100,000 signatures. Head Teachers across Gateshead were delighted that the debate took place as a consequence …

Queen’s Speech 2017: SCHOOLS NorthEast response

SCHOOLS NorthEast, the representative body for all 1,250 schools in the region, welcomes the Government’s commitment to fairer funding for schools, reform of technical education and a greater emphasis on mental health outlined in today’s Queen’s Speech, but the quality of implementation will be key to their success.   School funding From the very beginning, …

School leaders urge Government to do more on mental health

At SCHOOLS NorthEast's inaugural Healthy MindED Conference last week, delegates told us what the government needs to do to improve mental health and wellbeing in schools. Here are 5 things that schools would like to see the government do: 1. Funding Schools have identified many different ways in which increased funding could help them deal …

What can schools expect from a minority government?

The results of yesterday's general election has caused a lot of uncertainty, not least for schools. Here we outline what schools might expect. A new Prime Minister? Whilst Theresa May is likely to continue as Prime Minister in the short term, there is a great deal of discontentment within her party about the way that …

Schools must ratchet up fight for funding amid chaos of hung parliament

SCHOOLS NorthEast is urging Head Teachers to press the case for the new government to fill the looming black hole in school finances. SCHOOLS NorthEast has today called on school leaders to intensify their efforts to secure much needed funding to stave off swingeing budgetary cuts that are threatening the quality of education for pupils …

2017 General Election: main Parties pledge more mental health support in schools

The Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Conservative Party all promise to help schools improve the mental health support they offer to pupils. All three manifestos published this week include proposals and plans for better mental health provision to help tackle the growing issue. The Liberal Democrats pledge to:  Ensure that all teaching staff have the …

SCHOOLS NorthEast analysis brought up in Parliament funding debate

School funding in the North East of England was the topic of a House of Commons Debate led by Washington and Sunderland West MP Sharon Hodgson on Wednesday. Figures published by SCHOOLS NorthEast as part of a campaign to drive positive change in funding allocation for the region were mentioned, as well as some of our …

Frequent changes to education policy are school governors’ biggest challenge

Keeping up with the numerous education policy changes and effective time management are the main issues school governors are faced with,  according to delegates at the first SCHOOLS NorthEast Regional Governance Conference . Over 300 school governors in the region attended the Regional Governance Conference today, coming together under one roof to hear from sector …

SCHOOLS NorthEast responds to stage 2 of the NFF consultation

In December 2016, the Department for Education announced it was seeking views on the detailed design of the schools national funding formula, as part of the second stage of its consultation. SCHOOLS NorthEast has submitted a response on behalf of schools in our region. Changes to the funding structure will have an impact on all …

North East schools forced to ask parents to help fill funding blackhole

The Head Teachers of two schools in the region have written to parents with a plea for donations, as both schools face losing hundreds of thousands of pounds in the next few years. Dozens of school leaders in Darlington also reached out to parents, urging them to lobby the Government over the funding crisis by …