I had a lovely week in the Dales last week with Year 5 on residential although the weather was cool and wet. This week we are seeing a positive change in the weather and next week is going to be gloriously bright and sunny. This is a great half term for school trips with RPT having been to Stockeld Park on Monday, Y6 at the Industrial Museum on Tuesday, Y2s at a skipping festival on Thursday and another Y3 class at The Armouries today. Next week is very busy too: two Y4 trips to Burnsall and another trip to Stockeld Park. We really do value educational visits and outdoor learning at our school. We are very grateful for support from organisations such as Northern Rail who provided free train tickets for the residential (so helpful!), and to The Red Lion at Burnsall who are kindly giving us a room for free to help with some medical needs in Y4. We try to ensure that everyone can access our wider curriculum.
On Thursday I chaired Schools Forum and it was a sobering meeting. Earlier that day, Ofsted had published a very challenging inspection report of the city’s SEND system. Our meeting considered massive overspends in SEND and a major SEND Reform Plan that is being submitted. We also looked at schools’ budgets, with over 40% of Leeds primary schools now in deficit and collectively over £3million in the red. Our school finished last financial year marginally in credit but the future for school budgets looks exceptionally challenging. We are drafting a Deficit Action Plan for this year and I can see the majority of primary schools being in overall deficit this time next year. With the birth rate having fallen and 20% over capacity in the city, some hard decisions are going to need to be made.
More positively, we met some lovely new families for our Nursery Open Evening on Tuesday. I felt old as two of the new families had dads that I have seen through this school as headteacher. It isn’t the first time that has happened but it is becoming more and more common. Nursery and their play area looked very inviting and the young children didn’t want to leave at the end. Mrs Tomlinson and the team do a fantastic job – it is always delightful to visit the nursery. Reflecting falling births, we do have some spaces in nursery next year if anyone else needs a place.
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