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Minutes

Items
No. Item

1.

Question to the Leader: 2020/09 - Addressing Concerns of the Newport Association of Primary Headteachers

Minutes:

Councillor M. Evans asked:

 

The recent strike action at Caerleon and Llanwern High School shows the teachers and staff have lost confidence in the Council to deal with their understandable concerns.

 

Your Cabinet Member for Education, Councillor Gail Giles did not even meet them when they came to the Civic Centre. The Conservative Group believe, this is the last straw and her position has become untenable and you need somebody to get a grip of the situation.

 

The Newport Association of Primary Head teachers have written to the Cabinet saying; “We are now facing the real prospect of failing to deliver our pupils’ full educational entitlement, we are likely to be operating our schools with safety inadequately addressed and we will be teaching in buildings that are falling apart around us in classrooms that are crying out for decoration“.

 

When was the last time the Cabinet Member met with them or indeed those taking strike action?

 

Only two of our nine secondary schools are rated green, while St. Julian’s and Newport High School have been in special measures since July and November 2017 respectively, do you agree this is completely unacceptable?

 

Councillor Giles has been in position since May 2016 and must take responsibility, so does she still have your full support?

 

The Leader responded:

 

It is extremely disappointing that the opposition group are using schools to try to make political capital. Through the years of austerity, the council has tried to protect primary and secondary schools as much as possible and they have been spared some of the drastic reductions in funding seen in other areas.

 

In next year’s budget, ratified by full council on 27 February 2020, an investment of £10.4 million was agreed. This includes the full additional £4.6 million from the Welsh Government settlement – even though that was not ring-fenced for schools – plus an extra £1.4 million.

 

Councils must distribute amounts from their individual school budget (ISB) among their maintained schools according to a formula that accords with regulations made by the Welsh Government and enables the calculation of a budget share for each maintained school. The council delegates funding on an equitable basis using the school funding formula agreed by the school budget forum – a consultative group consisting of head teachers, governors and school business managers.

 

The funding formula can be broken down into four main elements:

·         Special educational needs

·         Site specific

·         School specific

·         Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU)

 

The first three provide funding to a school based on a range of variable elements unique to that school such as pupil numbers, building condition, floor space, type of energy used, no. of teachers on UpperPay Scale (UPS), pupils with Special Educational Needs, Learning resource bases etc.

 

The main element of a schools funding is the Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU). A fixed amount for each pupil, per year group, per sector. The AWPU has the same value for every secondary school in Newport and funds  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.