In the light of a very challenging school budget situation, the following document explains the situation, the potential impact and the measures being taken to maintain operations and standards at the highest possible level.

It’s a long read, but hopefully stakeholders will find it both informative and re-assuring. The headlines:

  • Setting a budget for 2024-25 has been the most challenging we have ever faced.
  • Our income has not risen in line with costs
  • Our per-pupil income remains amongst the very lowest of any schools
  • Our finances are carefully and effectively managed, with great support and benefits to being in Transform Trust. Our staffing and other operational costs remain low on all official benchmarks.
  • We have needed to undertake a staffing restructure, but have not had to make redundancies
  • We will not, for the foreseeable future, have support staff generally available to assist in class or with individual or group support
  • All support staff will be deployed to support specific children with the most complex physical and cognitive needs. Those who could not otherwise access mainstream schooling
  • We remain proud to be inclusive and welcome all to our school community. This issue is funding, not children.
  • There will be changes to how PE is delivered but we expect to maintain the highest standards
  • Organisation of trips and residentials will present a staffing challenge that we will try our best to surmount
  • We anticipate a reduction in our after-school sport offer, but will continue to do all we can
  • Attendance becomes even more important if children are to keep up with learning
  • Making the most of the early start we offer will become more important – we can offer extra support and ‘catch-up’ from the first bell
  • We need as many eligible families to apply for Pupil Premium as possible. The funding this brings is critical to our operation.

The full document – written in the spirit of honesty and openness that we know our community appreciates and expects, is here:

Budget and staffing 2024-5