11 March 2022 weekly update

Dear Colleagues,

A big well done to all of you that have been involved in setting up and supporting the Kent schools generous response to the Ukrainian crisis, a truly heartening and impressive project. It is not long since Kent schools and communities welcomed Afghan refugees and we are still working with the Home Office and DfE to place families. I know Ukrainian families will be met with the same commitment and compassion.

Inevitably my job involves a lot of time thinking about and talking about money. We were already considering the combined impact of Covid-19 and Brexit particularly on transport and capital project costs when the invasion of Ukraine took place, which is rapidly creating further financial pressures. The number of families claiming free school meals surged during the pandemic and you will know better than I the impact on communities of the surge in fuel and food prices. Two reports about schools and finance have recently been published which may be of interest.

The Public Accounts Committee hard hitting report on the Financial sustainability of schools in England raises concerns that financial pressures faced by schools could damage children’s education; citing research by Ofsted in 2019 which found that a high proportion of headteachers reported reducing staffing levels, narrowing the curriculum and changing how they support pupils with SEND because of financial pressures. The report also comments on the cumulative surplus of £3.1 billion held by academy trusts, raising concerns about the quarter of academy trusts (22%) that had reserve balances equivalent to more than 20% of their annual income in the year ending 31 August 2020, where these were not earmarked for specific projects.

The Cost of the school day in England: Pupils’ Perspectives presentation highlights some of the positive work being carried out by schools to ensure that opportunities are affordable and inclusive, while also drawing attention to the multitude of ways that pupils from low-income families face exclusion and stigma.​

Last week saw Secondary National Offer Day, where the largest cohort ever in Kent of over 18,300 Kent families received an offer of a school place for the 2022/23 academic year. 79.6% of Kent families were offered a place at their first preference school, an increase from 69.7% last year. A big thank you to all schools staff who working in collaboration with KCC Fair Access staff to achieve this great outcome. More detail can be found in the full article.

This week Cllr Shellina Prendergast and I were delighted to attend the opening of the beautiful new school library at Boughton Monchelsea Primary School and to meet author Jeremy Strong who had spent the day working with pupils. A huge thank you to Headteacher Ruth Roberts, her staff and governors (and a few pupils that we met) for their warm welcome and delicious refreshments.

This afternoon Cllr Prendergast, AEO Marisa White and I will be visiting Rose Street Primary School on the Isle of Sheppey  and meeting with Baroness Barran, then Marisa and I will be going on to visit Richmond Primary Academy

Have a good weekend.

Best wishes

Christine McInnes
Director of Education