Some schools in the UK are said to be considering moving to three-day weeks this autumn amid fears over energy bill costs and teacher pay.
As the rising cost of living crisis continues to be making its impact felt across the country, it’s now being reported that headteachers, trustees, and governors are holding talks and discussions during the summer holidays in an attempt to work out how to keep schools afloat in the autumn term, according to The Telegraph.
It comes after schools have been facing considerable financial pressure as of late, despite the Government promising to boost budgets by an extra £7 billion in England by 2023.
Funding per pupil in England dropped by 9% between 2010 and 2020.
Now, with some schools’ energy prices expected to increase by 300% in the coming months, according to reports, costs are rising faster than budgets will allow, and then, with teacher pay rises also set to be awarded in September, it’s believed this will add another layer of pressure.
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Mark Jordan, the chief executive of Creative Education Trust – a multi-academy trust – said he had heard discussions of a ‘three-day week’ as a way to save money, while Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said schools were now holding “crisis meetings” to work out how to fund the increased costs.
Mr Jordan said that his trust is considering a recruitment freeze and redundancies, and may have to scrap the planned COVID catch-up programmes for children, as well as planned investments and improvements in school buildings.
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“Others less fortunate are facing significant deficits and are already planning for teacher redundancies,” he added.
Mr Barton addd that some schools are even having to forego resources like textbooks.
The chief executive of one of the largest academy trusts in the country also anonymously told The Telegraph: “Shorter school days, fewer after school clubs and enrichment opportunities and draconian restrictions on energy usage will become a reality for all trusts and the situation is particularly challenging for smaller trusts and standalone schools.
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“This is not a plaintive plea of poverty, nor is it the usual begging bowl moment ahead of a spending review.
A spokesperson for the Department for Education said in response to the report: “We recognise that schools, much like the wider economy, are facing increased costs, including on energy and staff pay [and] our schools white paper set out our expectation that the school week should last a minimum of 32.5 hours – the current average – for all mainstream state-funded schools.
“Thousands of schools already deliver this length of week within existing budgets and we expect current funding plans to account for this.”
The player celebrations from Stockport County’s League Two trophy presentation are glorious
Danny Jones
If you’re a Stockport County fan, you’ve had a very good year as the Hatters have just been crowned League Two champions and will be back in the English third tier next season – safe to say they’ve been making most of the trophy celebrations.
Players and staff very much included.
Edgeley was filled with flares and even people climbing on rooftops when they officially secured promotion back to League One for the first time in 12 years – the second time they’ve managed to go up in three seasons – and there was a great attendance in Stockport town centre for the bus parade.
But it was last week’s trophy presentation back at the stadium that produced some of the most memorable scenes, with County topping off a season of impressive and often high-scoring performances on the pitch with plenty more pageantry. Cue the music.
We still haven’t stopped laughing at Kyle Knoyle.
From bringing Isaac Olaofe’s ‘Tanto’s on fire!’ chant to life to hammering home puns on names like Fraser Horsfall, no matter how obvious, these are the kind of deeply unserious celebrations we expect from a trophy presentation.
County fan or not, you’ve got to admit it looks like a good party.
It’s moments like these that players, fans and staff work hard all season for; to prat around like muppets in front of their adoring supporters. They even got assistant coach, Clint Hill, in the mix and, as it turns out, he proved to be one of the biggest ring-leaders.
We sincerely hope the Hatters keep trickling out more of these party scenes as we know there’s plenty more that fans would love to watch back.
We’re still yet to see captain Paddy Madden, who won Player of the Month for April, and the gaffer himself, Dave Challinor, who has comfortably secured his legacy as one of the club’s all-time greats.
Challinor and the club have made no secret of seriously eyeing up the Championship and who knows what else at County’s momentum continues to build, especially with a huge stadium redevelopment kicking off soon.
What do you reckon, Hatters – do you reckon a third promotion could be on the cards?
Liam Gallagher says he’ll ‘gig in Lidl’ if Co-op Live still isn’t ready – and they sound pretty game for it
Danny Jones
Following the ongoing palaver with Co-op Live, Liam Gallagher has joked that he’d happily play his scheduled gigs in a Lidl if the arena still isn’t ready – at least we think he’s joking…
With Liam Gallagher having been named as one of the first acts booked to play Co-op Live last year, many are now wondering whether the venue will even by June, with the former Oasis frontman set to play four Definitely Maybe 30th-anniversary sets. That being said, he’s come up with a solution if not.
Vintage LG, we’ll give him that.
Obviously a bit of a tongue-in-cheek quip at the venue being sponsored by a supermarket and convenience store chain, it could have been any other competitor that the ever-witty youngest Gallagher brother picked but it somehow made it extra funny that he chose a budget brand like Lidl.
However, with the 51-year-old already having fun with stunts like voicing the tannoys on the Metrolink last year, for instance, we wouldn’t put it past him to take this joke a little further.
Better still, not that we’re getting carried away or anything but Lidl themselves seem pretty keen on the idea too; they even spent the time to build an entire setlist for the fictional show. Fair play.
Can you imagine? Liam Gallagher swapping the occasional tambourine shake for beeps from a barcode scanner as he moves back and forth on the conveyor belt. We know it’s absolute nonsense and we definitely shouldn’t be even remotely considering it… BUT it’s the stuff of dreams and strange things have happened.
A lot of stranger things have happened this week alone. As for the latest with Co-op Live, the Chairman and CEO of key-backers Oak View Group, Tim Leiweke, issued a full statement sharing his “sincere apologies”and insisting that they understand “there is work to be done to rebuild your trust in us.”
With the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Peter Kay, The Black Keys and more having their gigs pulled by the venue due to numerous issues, including an air conditioning unit falling from the ceiling, fans are understandably fearful that other upcoming events could face delays or general misfortune.
Much like the venue itself, we imagine we’ll be playing catch-up on this whole saga for the foreseeable, but here’s a recap of the story so far: