Herts NUT backs calls from heads for parents to lobby officials on funding crisis

Last month, the Gazette reported how headteachers across the Dacorum area had called for parents to write to the government, county and borough councillors and the local press to highlight the funding problems schools are currently facing.

The letter was sent out under the banner of the Herts Association of Secondary School Headteachers.

And those calls have now been backed by the local NUT branch.

Its press and media officer Katy Alexander told the Gazette: “We fully support the point of head teachers – as all of us in the NUT are teachers – that we need parents to contact their MPs and councillors. It’s their children these cuts will affect.”

The union is concerned that deprived schools will “take the biggest hit” in a new funding formula that has been proposed by Justine Greening, the Education Secretary.

In one of the letters to parents, Adeyfield School head Scott Martin said that the proposed funding would leave his school “no better off”.

Mrs Alexander added: “It’s worth bearing in mind that at secondary level, heads can cut subjects, thereby making staff redundant.

“In primary schools, you can’t cut out, say, Year 5! This means class sizes will increase massively for many pupils’ earliest experiences of education, when all the formative learning happens.

“Moving on, they will then only be able to learn a few subjects at secondary school – many schools in Herts have cut arts subjects to save cash.

“We urge parents to get in touch with prospective MPs to tell them that these cuts are happening in their area.”