11 Plus Exams Forum

I was told recently that a grammar school in my borough was so short of cash, staff were unable to pay the wi-fi subscription and children found themselves unable to log into the school computer system from home to do assignments. The same school allegedly had no money to pay for graph paper and teachers were asking pupils to use ordinary lined paper for maths homework.
Another parent in the same borough who teaches at a local comprehensive said teachers were being asked to pay for photocopying themselves at a local library because the school could not afford photocopying paper and ink. Have other parents heard about grammar (or non grammar) schools on the financial brink? What does it take before the Government realises that we have an excellent, free education system in this country with dedicated teachers but it is being undermined by inadequate funding.

Government funding issues aside, I think it all went wrong when schools moved away from text books (an initial outlay that could be used year in year out) to this current model of printing as needed. Schools keep teaching about "sustainability" and "carbon footprints" but the current way is wasteful.

I know my opinion is controversial and I am sure to get some vitriolic remarks but it is, none-the-less, my opinion that today's modern ways are more wasteful than they are perceived.

It would be lovely if a book remained up-to-date. However, syllabuses change very frequently and books are too soon out-of-date; yes, even in maths! New GCSE and A level specs this year and more changes to come ... we soon get complaints about 'old books' from parents.

There are so many web-based resources that our photocopying bill is far smaller than it used to be.

Well, schools have already been told that there will be no increase in funding for the next 5 years. And bear in mind this is one of the budgets that has been in part protected from the austerity cuts. Staff costs continue to rise - there was a 2.3% increase in National Insurance in September which every school had to absorb - bear in mind that most schools will have at least 80% of their costs as staff costs, and you can only view this as a cut. There is also an increase in "high needs" pupils, and again this funding is effectively taken from mainstream schools. Finally some LAs will share out some funding on the basis of other factors such as deprivation. Typically grammar schools will receive less per capita funding than other schools on this basis.

That said, I don't think that the Government are deliberating targeting schools - all areas of publicly funded life are being cut. If school funding is increased, then what else gets cut?

If you have children at a grammar school, or are looking at one, then it is definitely worth having a look at their accounts if they are an academy. The picture varies a lot across schools, with some being managed very well, even gaining additional income through sponsorship, and others struggling, having to reduce staff costs, by replacing experienced staff with newly qualified staff.

I have said it before and will say it again. Schools have an incredible amount of staff, both teaching, non-teaching and admin. Resources far outstrip what we had and have continued to increase during the years my Dc have been at school.

PTA funding has increased yet us parents still have to put our hands in our pockets fairly frequently, frankly how much more do they want

Guest55 wrote:There are so many web-based resources that our photocopying bill is far smaller than it used to be.

I'm not surprised; it is us parents that have to print everything out now so it is our costs that have increased! My DC is even being chastised by the school because we don't own a colour printer to enable us to make pretty posters for homework!

From a teacher's perspective..

I used an entire home colour cartridge on Sunday printing stuff for school. I also bought a laminator and spent a fortune on stationery and stickers for the class. My TA buys stickers and small rewards , regularly, for the class from her, very meagre, salary As they say..teaching- the only profession where you steal stationery from home to take into work.

A little off topic, but on the subject of colour printers and cartridges...

A year and a half ago, after having to replace printer cartridges on a monthly basis (DDs homework mostly) I invested in a continuous ink supply (CIS) for my printer. It cost me approx £60-70 and include 4x100ml of inks. A set of replacement inks costs less than £20. We still haven't had to top up the ink supply yet though. It's paid for itself several times over.
I think another poster on here recommended getting them. It was well worth it.

If you have to do a lot of printing it's worth looking at them.

Joining tinkers a bit off subject, but on ink, we have bought an Instant Ink printer from HP. For £1.99 per month we can print 50 pages, colour or black and white, £3.99 for 100 pages, etc etc. Your printer is online and it detects when you need ink and automatically sends it to you, your subscription covers the cost and you don't have to remember to order. Utterly fantastic, and for us, £24 per year is vastly less than we were paying, and we have yet to use our whole 50 pages per month. The Instant Ink printer cost £49........

Still off topic then, so please feel free to delete but... how do these options compare to colour laser printers?