Headteacher Blog June 20th 2025

It has been another glorious week at Farfield!

The minibus wheels have been red hot: from a first Reception trip all the way over to Stockeld Park, to Y5s at Rawdon tennis club, our usual Wednesday swimming to Y4 classes on scorching trips to Burnsall in the Dales. Having access to minibuses gives us great curriculum opportunities (and saves families fortunes in reduced requests for financial support for visits).

I really enjoyed the PTA disco on Wednesday evening. Over half the children attended and they behaved very well. They enjoyed also having access to a courtyard with PE mats – a good space to run and roll around. Many thanks to our brilliant PTA volunteers for an excellent event.

On Thursday, I chaired Leeds Schools Forum. Amongst other things, we considered final out turns for the end of the last financial year: for schools and the education budget in the city as a whole. Nearly a third of schools ended the year in overall deficit – up 40%. Total balances in school fell 40%. The total value of deficit balances increased by 50%: all this in just one year. Across the city, spending on ‘high needs’ (SEND) exceeded income by £18 million pounds. Farfield, too, is flirting with deficit and I know that we have cut spending markedly in many areas. Non SEND-funded TAs will be a very rarely-spotted species in KS2 next year and we have already combined our deputy head and SENDCo roles. The financial situation for schools – and other public services – looks rather bleak.

On a more positive note, children across the school have been completing end of year assessments. These will be reported in end of year reports in July. The teachers are busy drafting these reports now which must be a challenge with the distraction of all this lovely weather!