The huge problem facing Wales’ schools leaving headteachers at ‘breaking point’

Money in schools is so tight that heads are working extra jobs and say pupils aren’t getting the support they need

Headteachers in Wales have described how they work 12-hour days, through weekends and take on extra work to top up budgets and cover for staff they can no longer afford to employ. Some have told us they are working unpaid as teaching assistants, caretakers and lunchtime supervisors because their school budget no longer runs to employing staff needed.

Others work extra hours as local authority school improvement advisers or executive heads of other schools to top up what they say are dwindling budgets. You can read about this week’s Welsh Government budget deal and where it plans to spend the cash here.

Some are also making staff redundant and not replacing vacancies that arise. One described how she has “sleepless nights” after “burning through reserves” to pay for teaching assistants her pupils need. Read the biggest stories in Wales first by signing up to our daily newsletter here.

Headteachers from the length and breadth of Wales say there is a “funding crisis” not just caused by years of cuts in real terms and soaring costs but also what they say is a huge rise in children with additional learning needs (ALN).

Describing an “additional learning need crisis”, they say many schools cannot afford the support children with extra needs require. As a result ALN children and their peers may not be getting the education and support they need.

They were speaking out as the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) Cymru launched a campaign for fair funding. NAHT Cymru says that £329m of funds given to the Welsh Government for education by Westminster through what’s known as consequential funding is being siphoned into other areas of the devolved budget instead.

It comes as the Welsh Local Government Association has reported a predicted deficit of £137m to school budgets with scant local authority cash to cover that.

Tim Newbould, head of Penycae Community Primary in Wrexham, told us: “This money the Welsh Government is sitting on beggars belief. If it has been given for education we are crying out for it. Who knows where it is going to, but there’s a moral point that if something is given for a specific purpose that’s where it should go and we need it.”

His school is in £200,000 deficit – an issue he says is exacerbated by rising numbers of ALN pupils with ever more complex needs. Mr Newbould and his deputy head now double up as the extra teaching assistants (TAs) the school needs to support those children but cannot afford.

“Children are not getting their needs met,” he said. “If we don’t get the money needed we have to make decisions about what support to provide and who not to support. We have less TAs so less one to one work is possible. If we don’t have TAs this extra support is down to teachers which has a knock on to other children.

“Because we don’t have enough TAs me and my deputy head take children one to one. We are covering two jobs. You have to take the behaviour out of the classroom. We have a large building and five withdrawal areas we can take them to.

“That means the work we should be doing doesn’t get done so we take that home at evenings and weekends. My opinion is that every school should have a special base.”

Painting a bleak financial picture, he added: “Our deficit is massive, it is 20% of our budget. There is just not enough money in the system as children’s needs have changed. As we are picking up ever more complex needs we have to meet those needs and that falls mainly to TAs.

“The more complex behaviour includes more neurodivergent behaviour. If children have ALN and an independent development plan you have to meet their needs legally.”

Mr Newbould and his staff are not alone. Kerina Hanson, headteacher of Pennard Primary in Swansea, had to lose her caretaker and now does that job herself as well as covering lunch time duties too.

She works 12 hours days as well as hours on Sundays and until recently also brought in extra money to her budget as a school improvement adviser for the local authority. But it’s not enough, says Kerina, who is also president of NAHT Cymru.

“I had reserves last year but only because of doing additional work (as a local authority school improvement advisor),” she explained. “This year I burned through those reserves paying for TAs. I have sleepless nights worrying about next year.

“In all schools we are seeing increasing need and more complex needs. That’s the crux of the problem. My school could be classed as being in a nice, leafy area but with that comes lower funding and no additional grants, and rightly so, but lack of deprivation doesn’t mean less complex needs.

“20% of our 170 pupils are ALN and need support – 15 of our 170 pupils have an IDP. They don’t get one to one help, but would have in the past. We have opened a support base because we can’t cope with those children in mainstream classes. My staff were at breaking point last year.

“The knock on effect is all children’s education is affected. That is happening. You can’t avoid that. We are doing our best but as an example, when I came here in 2015 we ran booster groups for catch up for average pupils but we can’t do that now because all my TAs are needed for pupils who need additional support. That’s awful for all children.

“I agree with inclusion and I don’t want us to see us fail our children but there’s potential for that to happen. There is definitely an increase in children with additional needs and speech and language needs have grown significantly in the last five to eight years. There’s just not enough money for all this and we have also had years of cuts.”

Dean Taylor, a headteacher for 17 years, is head of Pentrepoeth Primary in Newport and executive head of Rogerstone Primary. A member of the NAHT national executive, he describes the education funding mechanism in Wales as “a fog”.

“When you ask where the money goes you never get an answer. Why is the ring fenced (consequential) money not going to schools,” he asked. “Not many schools in Newport are in deficit but that’s because they are making unacceptable cuts to keep in budget. There are less support staff and less staff overall in primaries now.

“The crisis is over ALN funding. There is increasing ALN need and many of those children are in mainstream because they can’t get into specialist provision. School budgets are at breaking point. Schools should be trusted to spend the money where it is needed.”

Mr Taylor, who has not replaced Pentrepoeth Primary’s business manager or TAs who left, warns: “Children won’t always have the level of support they need.”

The warnings come as Welsh Labour did a deal with Plaid Cymru on December 9 which means the £27bn Welsh Government budget for next year will pass after Labour agreed to three key demands.

There are three parts to the deal: an extra £112.8m for councils, an extra £180m for the health budget, and £120m of capital funding will be available to the next government after the Senedd election to allocate.

Laura Doel, national secretary at NAHT Cymru, said the deal “appears to be a huge let down for school leaders, teachers, pupils and families when it comes to children’s education”.

She said: “At a time when the Welsh Local Government Association has reported a predicted deficit of £137m for school budgets alone, it is clear that £113m extra for all council services will simply leave schools short changed yet again.

“Schools will be left to fight for scraps which won’t be enough to ward off further impossible choices between cuts to staffing and resources. To do that while still protecting learning is nigh on impossible and children deserve better.

“To rub salt in the wounds we know that £329m was allocated to Wales by the UK government in so-called education consequentials – but only £39m was allocated in core funding for schools in the original Budget proposals.

“We have yet to see the specifics of this deal, but on the face of it there can be no let-up in our fight for fair funding for schools because this agreement seems to fall far short of securing that.”

A Welsh Government spokesperson responded: “We have continued to invest in schools and education over the course of this Senedd, and in some of the toughest years. Most of the funding for schools comes via the local authority settlement, which has increased year on year.

“The majority of our budget comes in the form of a block grant from the UK Government. Decisions about how that is spent are made by the Welsh Cabinet, through the annual budget process, based on the needs and circumstances of people in Wales and our priorities.”

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