Lack of School Funds Means this Headteacher is also Doing the Technician’s Job
Our school can't afford a new technician, so I've had to step up. I’m now a jack of all trades, says Iain Linsdell…
The week before the holidays I re-frequencied (if that’s a word) all of the walkie-talkies in the school. This was because at our most recent fire drill, office staff could speak to the kitchen but not teachers; teachers could speak to kitchen staff and each other but not the office; I could only hear the caretaker – and the local taxi rank.
I also updated the school’s assessment system so that teachers could begin writing their end-of-year reports. I fixed the stapler thingy on the big copier (not the usual stapler thingy, the saddle stapler thingy – I know!).
Next, I moved an overhead projector, climbing into the roof space to get the flipping cable into the right place so that it would reach.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that I’m the IT technician; but I’m not, I’m the headteacher. The technician retired last summer and now lives on a narrowboat and travels the canals of the north west, mostly drinking real ale.
I’ve been the head of this large urban primary for 11 years and, since the technician retired, I’ve been pretty much doing his job. Let me be clear: this is not because I love computers. It’s because I thought, ‘Phew, I can balance the budget for another 12 months.”
Not replacing our technician was a decision based on cost alone. I thought about it for all of 30 seconds – save his salary, do as many of the jobs as I can, or get someone in if I can’t.
Yes, I know I shouldn’t. Fixing someone’s interactive whiteboard while wearing a shirt and tie is not fun. Staff don’t like asking me, but some stuff is just easier to do myself, and cheaper. The alternative is not saving that salary and having to manage a deficit budget; it really is that tight now.
I spoke recently at a conference about cuts and revealed that one of the things I was most proud of was always managing our budget effectively.
I take immense pride in the school having never submitted a deficit budget during my tenure and never retaining a large surplus; we aim to spend all our budget on ensuring the children get the very best value from us. That’s what taxpayers expect of us.
Imagine then, how inflamed I became at Lord Agnew’s advice that I should be looking more closely at copier costs. As if I haven’t already, along with catering and gardening, repairs and maintenance, caretaker supplies – the list goes on.
We look at every cost, every year, because that is what is (and has always been) expected of us. Next year we are predicting a deficit budget, so serious discussions are taking place about staffing.
Comments and questions like; ‘If we take on an NQT…’ or ‘Can we make that contract fixed term?’ are now a part of financial discussions.
However, it is the hidden and indirect financial burdens that have really impacted on our budget. We had to repair our flat roof because the council repeatedly told us that they couldn’t afford to.
When the council farmed out the catering contract, it suddenly cost us £45,000 per year to supply free school meals. Also well reported are the increases to national insurance, pensions and the apprenticeship levy.
Eight years ago we deployed one person, one day a week, as SENCo. Now we employ a full-time SENCo, two learning mentors and a specialised TA to support children’s social and emotional progress.
Additionally, we buy a speech therapist for one day, a drama therapist for two days and a counsellor one afternoon each week. We buy extra educational psychologist support and behaviour support.
All of these services were previously provided by the local authority. Our local children’s social care service was recently rated inadequate by Ofsted and I suspect strongly that this was caused in part by financial pressures impacting on service.
What is hard to transmit to politicians and the general public is how widespread the problem is. Inadequate social services create severe pressure on schools, hospitals, police forces; council money problems impact on all of the services they provide to their constituents, including schools.
The problem is overwhelming public services at every level and creating a situation of critical need right now – it is a deeply alarming crisis.
At the aforementioned conference, I joked that I now knew more about my school’s drains than our children. This isn’t completely true; I’m too busy fixing computers to know about the drains!
Iain Linsdell is headteacher at Poplar Street Primary in Audenshaw, Greater Manchester. Follow him on Twitter at @poplarstreetht.
