Lack of funding threatens Oxford schools, heads warns

Head teachers in Oxford have warned that schools in the area could be forced to cut staff and drop subjects due to a lack of funding.

The warning follows analysis by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) that suggests schools across the country could be £17.5 million worse off by 2020.

Niall McWilliams, head teacher of Oxford Academy, believes that these projections are not far off and has cautioned that the great progress made in Oxford schools could be lost unless the government offers increased funding.

He told the Witney Gazette: “If we cannot maintain staffing levels it will be very difficult for us to improve.

“The government is cutting and cutting and cutting and it is impossible for schools that are in challenging communities to succeed.

"Attainment, achievement, family support, students’ social cohesion – all of those fields that schools do that people almost take for granted could be affected.”

Also speaking to the Witney Gazette, Lynn Knapp, head teacher of Windmill Primary School, echoed McWilliams’s sentiments and criticised the government for pushing back the new national funding formula, which she believes ‘it is not a priority at the moment’.