Parents, governors, pupils and activists gathered outside Twerton Infant School and Nursery last Friday morning, 20th July, to protest the cutting of school budgets.
George Samios, the headteacher at Twerton Infants, was joined by Bath’s MP Wera Hobhouse.
Headteachers across the city have been working to bring political attention to the financial problems that their schools are in, and Wera has been keeping the pressure up in Parliament.
Speaking to the assembled audience, George said: “A crisis in School Funding is rapidly approaching; For all schools, not just ours. It is wrong for the government to cut back on funding for schools and for the most vulnerable pupils. It is a false economy, it is cruel and it is foolish.”
Wera added: “I’ve brought this issue up in the House of Commons through speeches and questions many times. It’s very frustrating; Ministers hide behind their figures, which just don’t match up to what is happening on the ground.
“The government need to find money for schools, instead of failing a generation by starving them of funds.”
Independent research published last week by the IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies) has found that in real-terms per pupil funding has fallen by 8% in the last 8 years.
For Twerton Infants, this means cutting back on 1:1 counselling for their the most vulnerable pupils, as well as stopping the employment of a Parent Support Advisor who works directly with families to overcome challenges.
The school has also been forced to cut its Christmas Panto, and it’s a similar picture across the board in Bath.
George continued: “The government can find extra money for Grammar Schools, for Northern Ireland, for the NHS.
“So it’s is time for the Government to find extra money for all Schools, to reverse the cuts that have taken place over the last 8 years.”
