‘Raising funds is something that a head of state does, but it is unacceptable.’
‘Raising funds is something that a head of state does, but it is unacceptable.’
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A top performing arts BRIT school “can't afford to keep the lights on” before school so students who can't afford drum kits can practice, their headteacher has said.
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The performing and creative arts school for 14-19 year olds in Croydon, south London, boasts alumni including Adele, Amy Winehouse and Rizzle Kicks.
But headteacher Stuart Worden said he was not free from the “painful decisions” other heads face because “there is no new funding”.
Despite recent increases in government funding, rising salaries for teachers and support staff and increased cost and payment pressures for support services such as food banks, counsellors, and mental health are putting pressure on school budgets.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that, after taking individual costs into account, school funding will remain 4% below 2010 levels in real terms next year.
On Wednesday, Worden said: [are] You will get lost.
'We can't afford to pay the electricity bill'
“I work at a school where people play drums. Some of those young people don't have drum kits at home because they can't afford to buy one.
“So we provide drums to drummers who don’t have drum kits. They come to school at 7 in the morning and practice. Because that's your only chance before class.
“We can't afford to keep the lights on at 7 o'clock in the morning because we can't afford to pay the electricity bill. So now we're thinking, 'How is that going to work?'”
He said, “Raising funds is something that a head of state does, and it is unacceptable.”
A survey by the NAHT union published this week found that 95 per cent of headteachers have had to raise funds to cover basic costs such as classroom materials and building repairs.
Worden added: “The fact that our school is sponsored by the Royal Bank of Canada is a travesty. but … “Unlike the government, they were willing to support the country’s emerging artists.”
On the panel, Luke Sibieta, a research fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, added his voice calling for an NHS-style long-term workforce plan for education. The 10-year plan will help create a “stable, long-term education settlement.”