DEVON PUPILS RECEIVE £270 LESS THAN NATIONAL AVERAGE
Exclusive by Alan Quick
Rupert Poole, following a recent funding crisis at the school and subsequent redundancy of some staff, has issued the following statement:
AS regular readers will be aware, QE announced back in March that we were facing a situation of reduced funding and increasing costs.
There have been, and will continue to be, reductions in specific funding streams, most notably income to support students with Special Education Needs. However it is important to stress that at no time were we in debt or had an actual deficit or financial difficulty - the actions we have taken were prudent ones to prevent that scenario developing in the future, not to correct any overspending.
Some contributors to the “Courier” and on social media have suggested the actions we have taken are as a result of our Academy status, but whatever your views on the government’s academisation policy, I can assure readers that the situation would be the same whatever our status.
Like any organisation, we have to ensure that our expenditure does not exceed our income. As a result of reduced funding we had to reduce our costs, and that meant a restructuring process. After three difficult months for our school and the wider community that process is now complete. First and foremost our thoughts are with the valued colleagues who have been directly affected. We have however been able to manage the vast majority of the staffing changes through voluntary means, especially in our Learning Support (SEN) team where we were able to completely avoid compulsory redundancies.
The policy that we have been carefully following has been put together by Devon County Council and has involved consultation with staff, unions and professional associations.
It is a legal requirement to consult and governors at QE received a considerable amount of feedback, all of which was carefully considered prior to the final decisions being taken.
The process is also a confidential one to staff and governors at QE; hence I have not been in a position to make any public comment.
Also, unfortunately, the policy does not have the facility for parents to contribute to the consultation process, but I can assure parents that their desire to see the least possible impact on students was shared by the leadership of the school and the governing body.
At the end of the day, we all want the same thing, and that is the highest possible quality of education for all students in our care. Of course more funding would always help, and once again I call for all members of the community to support the organisation called: www.f40.org.uk which represents a group of the lowest funded education authorities in England.
We must end the situation whereby the 10 best–funded areas on average received grants of £6,297 per pupil, compared with an average of just £4,208 per pupil in the 10 most poorly funded areas.
Devon is one of those poorly funded areas receiving £270 less per head than the national average.
Whatever the funding system, we will always have to operate in a real world of finite resources and almost infinite demand on those resources.
I am absolutely confident that we will be able to continue to deliver the highest possible quality of education with the funding we receive, and we will continue to be prudent and manage our finances carefully to enable the funding to be focussed on students.
We have maintained a broad and balanced curriculum throughout the school and especially so in our Sixth Form, at a time when many Sixth Forms are reducing.
QE is incredibly lucky to be at the heart of such a strong community and we want to enhance and strengthen that relationship.
All members of QE are now ready and determined to concentrate on delivering outstanding education for all the students in our care, for their benefit and for the benefit of the wider community.”
Mel Stride, MP for Central Devon, who held discussions with Rupert Poole on Tuesday, May 24, commented: “Rupert and his team have made significant progress with the restructuring of staffing at QE and I am confident that the school will continue to provide the very highest quality of education for pupils.
“I have offered whatever support he and his team may require and will remain engaged where appropriate.
“I look forward to QE continuing to outperform many of the schools in our county through maintaining the excellent standards for which it has become renowned.”