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Restructuring

Prospective Parents and Carers

After originally appearing in 2019, the information on this page is being retained for the reference of new and prospective parents.

Firstly, sincere apologies for being unable to communicate with you directly about this, but as places have not yet been allocated by Admissions we do not have access to your contact details.

Secondly, apologies that this situation has arisen at such a difficult time for you. We fully appreciate that this could have been a significant factor in your considerations and it is regrettable that the timeline has had to fall as it did.

In summary, for quite some time now we have faced difficulties as a result of the way schools are funded. Costs to all schools have increased significantly while funding has not kept pace. For us this has been compounded by our provision for Complex Special Needs (our Resource Base), which has been historically underfunded and continues to be so. At a parent/carer meeting in January 2017 we outlined the financial position we were in and the steps we were having to take. The effects of these measures (including increased class sizes in Key Stage 2, reduced staffing, limited trip subsidy, postponed purchase of non-essential resources and minimal grounds/building maintenance) have been managed in the short term but have certainly been felt by all. Thanks to the efforts of our amazing staff and parents (most notably through the PTFA) the quality of education, attainment and our special ethos has been maintained despite these challenges.

However, additional financial constraints have been put on all schools and we now have to consider more significant and unpalatable options. In short, we are as effecient as we can be, there are no more savings to be had.

  1. We are proposing to close early to pupils on Fridays (1pm), with effect from September 2019. This measure will mean that we can make savings by reducing the number of teachers employed by the school (fewer cover teachers for release time needed) and reducing hours worked by support staff. We can minimise losses to learning time by rearranging the weekly timetable. This arrangement allows us to keep class sizes and staffing ratios as they are.
  2. We are having to consider stopping our provision for children with Complex Needs, and will be in talks with the Local Authority around this. This is devastating to consider as this provision is absolutely central to the school’s ethos, but we are simply no longer able to subsidise the shortfall in funding for it from our main school budget. This measure would impact on our school as a whole and would have a massive impact on the children, families and staff who utilise and deliver this provision. There is no implementation timeline for this at present.

We will be holding an information session for prospective parents shortly to explain things more fully and we hope that you will be able to attend. Details will be posted here and shared via social media.

Existing Parents and Carers

After originally appearing in 2019, the information on this page is being retained for the reference of new and prospective parents.

Many thanks for the words of support and your recognition that these proposals have been forced upon us. Apologies for any emails that have been left unanswered, it is purely as a result of the number we are receiving.

You will all have had the letter outlining the current situation and the proposals, and we hope that Monday's meeting will give you a fuller picture of that and of how you can submit your thoughts to the restructuring committee. We will post information here for those who cannot attend.

In the meantime, we post below some links you may find useful:

  1. For further information about the school funding situation nationally, and the funding of provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), we suggest the following publications:
  2. To understand how our school’s income and spending compares to other schools, you can explore the data on the government’s ‘Schools Financial Benchmarking’ website - https://schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk/
    The data shows that KHPS receives and spends less per pupil than other local schools. In particular, we already spend less on staff per pupil than almost all of these schools, despite the fact that our Complex Needs provision requires a lot of extra staffing. We also spend the least on things like classroom resources and staff training. We are in no way suggesting that these other schools are ‘over-funded’ – all schools are experiencing unacceptable financial pressures – our aim is to draw attention to the comparative receipt of and use of funding in our school.

Restructuring FAQs

After originally appearing in 2019, the information on this page is being retained for the reference of new and prospective parents.

  • What is it in the National Funding Formula that is causing KHPS to lose money? What else means we have less money per pupil than other local Birmingham schools?

    The National Funding Formula (NFF) was introduced by central government from April 2018. It replaces different local authority funding formulae with one single formula. When fully in place, the aim is that this will ensure similar schools in different parts of the country receive a similar amount of funding. Inevitably, there are winners and losers from this redistribution of funding – in particular, urban areas tend to lose funding.

    Analysis from the Education Policy Institute shows that schools in our constituency (Birmingham Hall Green) will experience higher losses as a result of the NFF than all but 55 of the 500+ constituencies in England.1

    Major factors within the NFF that mean that KHPS does badly relative to other local schools include allocation of funds according to:

    • levels of deprivation - KHPS is in a relatively affluent area of Birmingham, and the proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is relatively low.
    • low prior attainment – KHPS pupils on average do not have particularly low prior attainment.
    • lump sum – because we are a relatively big school, there is less of this money per pupil because the lump sum does not vary with school size.

    Beyond the NFF (which only determines the biggest stream of funding that comes into schools), another funding stream is ‘pupil premium’ funding. This is allocated based on the number of pupils in a school that have ever been eligible for free school meals. KHPS has a lower proportion of pupil premium pupils than all but one of the eleven most local primaries, which contributes to the lower funding per pupil.


    1  See excel spreadsheet that can be downloaded at https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/implications-national-funding-formula-schools/.

  • What does BCC’s zero tolerance policy to school deficits mean? What are the consequences of a deficit?

    All schools maintained by BCC are required to set balanced budgets in-year and either:

    • balanced three year forecasts or
    • plans to address budget deficit situations (either current or predicted)

    We don’t know what BCC would do if we did not address our projected deficit to their satisfaction. BCC has not spelt this out to us. However, they are able to take control of school budgets where there is ‘cause for concern’ and this could mean decisions about cuts are made without a full understanding of the context of the school. Financial management of schools is part of OFSTED inspection, influencing judgments around quality of provision, efficiency of use of resources and leadership and management. Poor inspection results run the risk of forced academisation with limited control over choosing the sponsor or the chain.

  • What is Roger Godsiff (the local MP) doing to support the school?

    Roger Godsiff has (at the school’s request) written to Nick Gibb, the Secretary of State for School Standards, to formally request that he send a School Efficiency Advisor to KHPS. We are waiting to hear from Mr Godsiff when he has had a reply from Mr Gibb.

  • If SENAR (the local authority's Special Educational Needs Assessment and Review Service) purchases ‘resource base’ places for children with complex SEND, why are these places underfunded?

    KHPS is proud of its ethos of inclusivity and strives to provide education within a mainstream setting for children with complex needs. Providing this level of inclusivity comes at a significant cost, including often one-to-one Integration Assistant support. We have been assured by SENAR that our provision is efficient, yet they do not provide enough money to cover what we spend. The school has been negotiating with SENAR to reduce the under-funding of these places over many years, with some success. Nonetheless, these places are still significantly under-funded. Birmingham (in common with councils across the country) is struggling to meet the needs of children with complex SEND, because of under-funding from central government2. If KHPS does not provide these places, there are not enough alternative school places in Birmingham for children with complex needs. This is therefore a terrible choice for us to have to consider. However, because of the financial pressures the school is under, we are now at a point where we cannot continue to provide these places unless they are adequately funded.


    2  ‘SEND funding’, Local Government Association; https://www.local.gov.uk/about/campaigns/bright-futures/bright-futures-childrens-services/bright-futures-send-funding.

  • What areas of curriculum will be lost as a result of a move to 4.5 days?

    We cannot promise that nothing will be lost as a result of reducing the hours children are taught. However, the school is committed to providing a broad and balanced curriculum. The school’s mission statement3 describes the kind of educational experience we aim to provide, and we will do all that we can to achieve this despite the increasing challenges. The upcoming ‘curriculum review’ will give us the opportunity to make links within the curriculum to enable us to cover as many areas as possible in a more efficient way.


    3  https://kingsheathprimary.com/info-2/mission-statement

  • What action can parents take?

    Please look at the new PTFA website (http://www.helpkhps.co.uk/) for guidance on what action you can take to support the school and to campaign for adequate funding for schools in general, and for complex SEND in particular.

  • How can parents contribute financially?

    Lots of parents have told us that they would be willing to give money to the school. The PTFA has a ‘school fund’ which is used to help the school to pay for things that would otherwise not be funded. If you are able to set up a regular donation, this would be greatly appreciated. Please follow the steps below.

    STEP 1 – SET UP A STANDING ORDER:

    Kings Heath Primary School PTFA
    Sort Code – 09-01-29
    Account Number – 00974567

    Please ensure that you add a reference number, so that we can make sure that we claim gift aid on any eligible donations. First 5 LETTERS OF YOUR SURNAME POST CODE – e.g. JONESB13ABC

    However, donations of money cannot be used to support strategic development or pay staffing costs as they are likely to be short-term and their voluntary nature makes them an unreliable source of income.

    STEP 2 – COMPLETE A GIFT AID FORM

    If you are a UK tax payer, complete the gift aid form available here, and return it to the school office. This will enable the PTFA to claim an extra 25% on top of your donation.

    The gift aid form will enable us to claim gift aid on all future donations that you make to the PTFA

  • What areas of the curriculum will be lost as a result of a move to 4.5 days?

    We cannot promise that nothing will be lost as a result of reducing the hours children are taught. However, the school is committed to providing a broad and balanced curriculum. The school’s mission statement describes the kind of educational experience we aim to provide, and we will do all that we can to achieve this despite the increasing challenges. The upcoming ‘curriculum review’ will give us the opportunity to make links within the curriculum to enable us to cover as many areas as possible in a more efficient way. We will let parents know what is lost from and / or about changes to the curriculum.

  • Could the school generate more income, such as from hiring out its facilities?

    We will continue to explore opportunities for generating more income. For example, the PTFA is researching opportunities to bring in more money through grants. However, hiring out school facilities comes with various costs, such as the need to pay staff to close the building and to clean up, which have to be balanced against the income that this generates.

  • Can the school no longer be used as a polling station?

    The school is currently closed to pupils when it is used as a polling station in elections. We agree that this is not something that should continue in the context of the school closing early every Friday. We have asked the local authority to find an alternative polling station.

  • What happens now?

    The parental consultation is now closed. The staff consultation will soon be complete and at this stage we will communicate with parents further about plans for September 2019.

    We would also like to note that Mr Roger Godsiff MP has now been in touch. He contacted the DfE on our behalf and we have been allocated an ‘efficiency advisor’. We are still waiting for the advisor to make contact; Mr Godsiff has indicated that he will attend any meeting between the school and the advisor.

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