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www.bradleystokejournal.co.uk
t: 01454 300 400
March 2017
Contact Us Editor: Stephen Horton info@bradleystokejournal.co.uk 01454 300 400 83 Snowberry Close Bradley Stoke Bristol BS32 8GB
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About the Bradley Stoke Journal The Bradley Stoke Journal website and magazine are published by North Bristol Press, a trading name of Snowberry Media Ltd; company number 8451178 (registered in England and Wales); registered office: 7 Chelford Grove, Stoke Lodge, Bristol BS34 6DD. Our other publications include the Patchway Journal website, the Stoke Gifford Journal website and the Filton Journal website. North Bristol Press is independent of any other media company or network operating in the Bristol area. We accept no responsibility for anything stated by advertisers, who are themselves responsible for complying with all relevant legislation. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the editor or article author. © North Bristol Press 2017. Content published in our magazines or on our websites may not be reproduced in any form without our express written permission.
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arents of students attending Bradley Stoke Community School (BSCS) have been warned of a looming financial crisis that could lead to the school day being shortened and/or class sizes being increased in order to save on staff costs. Other “unthinkable” costsaving suggestions being put up for discussion include reducing support roles, such as teaching assistants, and asking parents/ carers to make regular financial contributions to the school. The funding issues, which affect all seven schools operated by the Olympus Academy Trust, are said to result from historically low levels of government funding for schools within South Gloucestershire, in comparison with other areas of the country. This has left the trust with less money in reserves to fall back on in hard times. On top of this, it is claimed that government funding has not been increased to compensate for inflation and increased costs that have fallen on schools in recent years. Trust CEO Dave Baker said: “We have had to make cuts year-on-year for several years now because of the government’s ‘austerity’ policy, which has meant ‘flat’ budgets for education – in reality this has meant reduced funds to run our schools each year because we have had to pay for things along the way which previously we did not have to pay for, such as
increased employer pension and national insurance contributions for staff, the apprenticeship levy (a new tax from April this year), unfunded cost of living pay awards for staff, inflationary costs, provision of services that were funded externally before e.g. careers advice and guidance, behaviour and mental health support for students etc.” Mr Baker predicts that the trust’s expected funding levels for the next academic year (2017/18) will make it their “most challenging year yet”. The trust’s two secondary schools, BSCS and Abbeywood, are likely to be hit hardest, with both having to “reduce spending by over 8 percent by September”, equating to £400,000 less in each school. Mr Baker continued: “This cannot be achieved by trimming around the edges and is going to require new ways of working. In addition to our own challenges, we have been informed that we are going to have to contribute for the next three years to a cumulative overspend of £7 million by South Gloucestershire Council on special educational needs (SEN) placements out of the area! To add insult to injury, they are currently considering reducing the amount of funding we receive to support students with SEN, which could have a huge impact for us as we have two schools in the trust with specialist resource bases which receive SEN funding in order to function.”
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