Birmingham pupils sent home early to save school money

A head teacher has cut the number of hours children spend at school to save money.

Neil Porter said he would save £18,500 by cutting an hour and 20 minutes every Friday at Birmingham's St Peter and St Paul RC Junior and Infant School.

The pupils' early finish means teachers can plan their lessons and there is no need to pay supply staff to supervise children.

But parents have said they have had to change their working hours.

The day finishes at 15:20 BST Monday to Thursday at the Erdington school.

But on a Friday after lunch, the 210 pupils now go into a whole-school assembly with the head at 13:00. They are then picked up by parents at 14:00.

Mother of three boys, Juliette O'Donnell said she had to take a cut in her job hours and her husband now has to work weekends due to the change in time.

She said: "That early finish has meant parents having to take a pay cut as we have done, or having to pay extra for additional childcare."

Grandmother Brenda Keeley added: "If it wasn't for me picking up my granddaughter, my daughter would have to give up work all together.

"It's awful really - cutbacks."

Parent Rob Stinton now works longer during the week to finish early on a Friday.

He said: "It's hard but we have to do what is best for the children's education, if that's what it takes."

The change also means pupils have five minutes less at lunch and stay five minutes longer at school Monday to Thursday.

Teachers spend the child-free time on Fridays at school for planning, preparation and assessment (PPA), to which they are statutorily entitled.

Mr Porter said: "It was probably the most challenging thing I've had to do as a head teacher, as lots of my parents work and we are not in an affluent area, so they were very concerned about the impact."

He added he has also saved cash by not replacing a teaching assistant and two full-time teachers who voluntarily reduced their hours to part-time.

He said the cost-cutting measures have allowed him to reduce his school year budget deficit from £26,000 to £4,000.

He also said the total budget for the school is £970,000 - which is less than the £983,000 he was given last year.

It comes as head teachers hand a petition in to government in protest at school funding cuts.

On the march, Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson, head teacher of Anderton Park School in Sparkhill, Birmingham, said pupils finish 45 minutes early at her school.

She said: "Early finishes are definitely more and more prevalent at schools now."

Birmingham City Council-maintained schools have hundreds of pounds a year less to spend per pupil in real terms than they had four years ago, according to DfE statistics.

But the government said Birmingham received £909m for its schools this year 2018-19, which is a £4m increase on 2017-18.

A DfE spokesman said: "We know that we are asking schools to do more, which is why we are helping them to reduce the £10bn spent each year on non-staffing costs, providing government-backed deals for things like printers and energy suppliers that are helping to save millions of pounds."