Headteacher blog 24th March 2023

After the disruption of last week, it has felt good to get a proper, full week completed. I toured the school with prospective family this morning and every classroom was a delight: happy, engaged children playing and learning. The family really liked what they saw, commenting – in a positive way they assured me – that everything looked ‘well-used’. By contrast, my son’s school always looked immaculate and their football pitch looked like Wembley: “…but we’re never allowed to play on it dad!” he complained.

The governors had their termly meeting last night and whilst the meeting was overwhelmingly positive, we are very concerned about our budget: rising costs and funding that doesn’t keep up, especially around provision for children with SEND. Being less than full in Reception this year due to falling birth rates – the first time in decades – doesn’t help financially. Sadly, it does look like we are going to have to make some significant cuts for September and reorganise how we allocate our staffing. We are not the only school having to do this.