Cllr Bruce National Funding Formula

Democratic Services London Borough of Hounslow The Civic Centre Lampton Road Hounslow TW3 4DN

Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services Your contact: Councillor Tom Bruce Hounslow Headteachers Mobile: 07773 756464 Fax: 020 8583 2252 E-Mail: tom.bruce@hounslow.gov.uk Our Ref: TB Date: 8th March 2017 Dear Headteacher colleague, Fair Funding for All Schools We have worked hard in Hounslow to improve outcomes for students in our schools.  95.8% of all schools currently judged Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, up from 74.3% in May 2014.  98.1% of Primary Schools judged good or better up from 67.3% in May 2014.  100% of Special Schools (including the Pupil Referral Unit) judged good or better.  100% of Private Voluntary and Independent Childcare providers judged good or better.  Key Stage 4 Progress 8 performance placed the council 8th out of 151 local authorities in England.  5 Hounslow Secondary schools in the top 200 nationally for the Progress 8 measure.  Performance in the English Baccalaureate placing the council 7th out of 151 local authorities.  In 2015, 81% of Hounslow pupils with special educational needs achieved Level 2 by age 19, which placed Hounslow 1st in England for this group of students.

These outcomes are a testament to the work of you, your colleagues across all our schools in Hounslow and officers from the Local Authority who support you with your work. We were already facing struggles with the DSG due to the fact that there has been no increase in funding in real terms since 2010 to address inflation and other costs. This makes the improved performance since May 2014, highlighted by some, but by no means all of the examples above, even more remarkable.

I know that you are facing huge cost pressures and the National Funding Formula (NFF) is set to make things even worse, especially in London. In Hounslow we are currently predicting a 1% reduction overall, with 11 out of 14 secondary schools and 16 out of 52 primary schools

facing a reduction in their budget as a result of the Government’s new National Funding Formula.

Hounslow Council understands the pressures that you are facing and will be making our concerns known to the government in the strongest terms. Mine and my cabinet colleague concerns are not only endorsed by Labour Councillors but have received support from the Conservative Group. I took a motion to the Borough Council meeting in January 2017, opposing the current proposals for the NFF and calling on the Government to protect funding for schools in Hounslow and London and I was delighted that my motion was unanimously supported by Borough Council.

We are working with London Councils to raise the profile of the issue with the Government, with MPs and with the media. I know that a number of you, and indeed school Governors, attended a session with our 2 local MPs recently, Seema Malhotra and Ruth Cadbury, and I know that Seema and Ruth are absolutely committed to do everything that they can to protect funding for Hounslow Schools.

We are calling on the government to invest more funding in schools, and in particular to provide an additional £335m per year (1% of the DfE’s schools budget) to ensure no school loses funding as a direct result of the implementation of the National Funding Formula.

Hounslow Council and London Councils will be providing a full and robust technical response to the consultation on the National Funding Formula which ends on 22 March 2017.

We need to ensure that parents have a voice in this campaign and that they are supported in responding to the consultation effectively by 22 March 2017. I wanted to alert you to a parentled website which you might want to inform your parents about. It includes guides to responding to the consultation on the National Funding Formula, model letters to MPs and journalists and other resources. You can find out more about their resources at: http://www.fairfundingforallschools.org/fairfundingforallschools-act-now.html I am incredibly proud to be the Lead Member for Education and Children’s Services in Hounslow and especially of the work that you do providing excellent teaching and learning opportunities, exemplified by the fantastic educational outcomes of students in our schools. I will do everything that I can to ensure that the Government proposals for the NFF do not jeopardise the achievements that your hard work has delivered and I know that I can count on your support to do this.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Tom Bruce Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services

CC.

Seema Malhotra MP Ruth Cadbury MP