TORY CUTS TO NORTHUMBERLAND SCHOOLS BRANDED ‘SAVAGE’ AS £10M SLICED FROM EDUCATION BUDGET

NEWS FROM NORTHUMBERLAND LABOUR

Northumberland predicted to lose over £10m with 268 teaching posts at risk as South East Northumberland targeted by Government in cuts to schools

Plans to ‘savage’ Northumberland school budgets by over £10m have been branded as an act of ‘educational vandalism’ by the Labour party in Northumberland.

The cuts introduced by the Conservative government have raised doubts about whether teachers will be targeted as part of school cost cutting with the NUT predicting that 268 teaching posts could be lost across Northumberland with 174 posts at risk in the South East alone.

Government plans have been scrutinised by the NUT and figures released through www.schoolcuts.org.uk website and Labour are mounting a campaign to halt Conservative school cuts across Northumberland as every town is set to lose out. The NUT predict 268 teachers could lose their jobs. The county is set to lose out by over £10m with pupil spending dropping by a whopping £260 per head on average. The South East of the County where nearly half of the county residents live is particularly hardest hit.

With the news that schools in Northumberland will lose huge chunks of their income directly paid to them from the Conservative Government over the next few years, Northumberland Labour have launched an investigation into how schools will deliver an ever-improving set of results against savage Conservative cuts.

Now Labour councillors are calling on opposition councillors in Northumberland to back the Labour campaign to halt the education cuts.

Labour Councillors in the County group said

“What this Tory government is doing is akin to educational vandalism. Cutting school budgets in Blyth and across Northumberland is literally taking opportunities away from our children and it's disgraceful that local Conservatives continue their vow of silence when it comes to their government cuts to Northumberland's budgets. In communities like Blyth Ashington, Newbiggin, Bedlington and Cramlington, the extra investment that flowed into schools under the last Labour government has been almost totally reversed and now our schools face rising class sizes, fewer teachers, less cash per pupil and squeezed school budgets under a Tory government that is committed to educational vandalism. These savage cuts are hitting South East Northumberland hardest with Cambois school hardest hit in the whole county. It’s time local opposition councillors and activists started to stand up for their communities instead of sitting meekly while their government economically pillages Northumberland’s communities”.

Councillor Robert Arckless Portfolio holder for Childrens Services said:

“I’m shocked at the scale of these cuts and who they’re targeted at. Every corner of our county will see school budgets savagely cut under these proposals and I hope that opposition councillors and supporters will join us to make our case to government why Northumberland needs more help not less. At a time when the county council has and is investing over £50m in new schools the government is pledging to cut the budgets to support what happens in the classrooms. Those policies may work in Chelsea and Kensington but one look at the average earnings levels here in the Northumberland show how that London centric policy can’t work here. I’m pleased the effects are to be fully investigated.”

 

Notes

Cuts to South East Area Schools

TOWN	SCHOOL	Budget change by 2020 - MINUS	CUT PER PUPIL	CUT TEACHING POSTS
BEDLINGTON	St Benet Biscop Catholic Academy	£300,163	£336 per pupil	8
	Meadowdale Academy	£48,796	£114	1
	St Bede's Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided Primary School	£64,224	£308	1
	Bedlington West End First School	£83,902	£303	1
	Stead Lane Primary School	£104,371	£521	2
	Cambois Primary School	£54,895	£980	1
NEWBIGGIN	Northumberland CofE Academy	£956,988	£458	25
	St Aidan's Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided	£84,260	£460	2
CRAMLINGTON	Cramlington Village Primary School	£41,349	£353	1
	Burnside Primary School	£118,365	£283	2
	Cramlington Northburn Primary School	£94,984	£300	2
	Cramlington Eastlea Primary School	£53,233	£277	1
	Cramlington Shanklea Primary School	£71,943	£204	1
	Beaconhill Community Primary School	£77,824	£397	2
	St Paul's Catholic Academy	£58,822	£459	1
	Hareside Primary School	£95,849	£230	2
	Cramlington Learning Village	£438,340	£265	11
	St Peter's Catholic Academy	£11,668	£126
	Cragside CofE Controlled Primary School	£83,768	£233	2
MORPETH	Morpeth All Saints Church of England Aided First School	£43,869	£296	1
	The King Edward VI Academy	£228,808	£231	6
	Morpeth Chantry Middle School	£63,289	£126	1
	Morpeth Newminster Middle School	£21,312	£41	1
	St Robert's Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided First School	£29,837	£219	1
	Morpeth First School	£74,700	£247	2
	Abbeyfields First School	£14,496	£51
	Morpeth Stobhillgate First School	£65,845	£460	1
ASHINGTON	Ashington High School	£397,041	£416	10
	Bothal Primary School	£143,580	£296	3
	St Benedict's Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided Middle School	£20,612	£104	1
	Northumberland CofE Academy	£956,988	£458	25
	St Aidan's Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided First School	£84,260	£460	2
	Central Primary School	£210,343	£402	5
BLYTH	Blyth Academy	180,731	247	4
	New Delaval Primary	99,530	546	2
	Newsham Primary	186,703	495	5
	Bede Academy	479,613	313	12
	Croftway Primary	222,746	558	5
	St Wilfrids Primary	94,568	338	2
	Malvins Close Primary	277,061	664	7
	Morpeth Road Primary	240,190	692	6
	Horton Grange Primary	158,189	472	4
	Seghill First School	£36,049	£360	2
	Astley Community High School	£114,663	£260	2
	Seaton Delaval First School	£44,088	£272	1
	Holywell Village First School	£37,862	£278	1
	Seaton Sluice First School	£34,851	£224	1

 

CUTS TO NORTH AND WEST COUNTY SCHOOLS

TOWN	SCHOOL	Budget change by 2020 - MINUS	CUT PER PUPIL	CUT TEACHING POSTS
HEXHAM	Hexham East First School	£27,748	£233	1
	Queen Elizabeth High School	£125,696	£145	3
	St Mary's Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided First School	£27,968	£291	1
	The Sele First School	£42,099	£105
BERWICK	Holy Trinity Church of England First School	£36,797	£257	2
	St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic Voluntary Aided First School, Berwick	£20,468	£314	1
	Tweedmouth West First School	£36,975	£253	2
	Tweedmouth Community Middle School	£30,590	£85	1
	Tweedmouth Prior Park First School	£31,050	£217	1
	Berwick Academy	£113,578	£221	2
	Spittal Community School	£25,510	£196	1
ALNWICK	Swansfield Park First School	£54,515	£265	1
	St Paul's RC Voluntary Aided First School	£27,211	£207	1
	The Duchess's Community High School	£83,833	£107	2
	St Michael's Church of England First School	£25,980	£207	1
	James Calvert Spence College - Acklington Road	£73,690	£302	1
	Amble First School	£31,363	£263	1
	Amble Links First School	£63,117	£493	1
PRUDHOE	Prudhoe Castle First School	£15,615	£140
	Prudhoe West First School	£35,879	£134	1
	St Matthew's Catholic Primary School	£15,414	£124
	Highfield Middle School	£8,235	£19
	Prudhoe Community High School	£72,232	£128	1
	Mickley First School	£28,715	£441	1
	Broomley First School	£30,282	£232	1
	Broomhaugh Church of England First School	£17,288	£227
	Ovingham Church of England First School	£20,961	£166	1
	Wylam First School	£27,396	£201	1
HALTWHISTLE	Haltwhistle Community Campus Lower School	£27,561	£155	1
HAYDON BRIDGE	Haydon Bridge Community High School and Sports College	£42,732	£103	1
	Haydon Bridge Shaftoe Trust Primary School	£15,837	£129
PONTELAND	Heddon-on-the-Wall, St Andrew's Church of England First School	£41,302	£375	1
	Darras Hall First School	£112,338	£253	3
	Ponteland Community High School	£141,347	£185	3
	Ponteland Middle School per pupil	£36,314	£60	1
	Ponteland First School	£57,783	£193	1
	Richard Coates Church of England School	£4,226	£9