Forest Hill School Strike

What follows is based on a letter I sent to all Lewisham Councillors and the three local MPs

I'm writing to update you as there has been a great deal of social media traffic regarding the situation at Forest Hill School (FHS). I know that Steve wrote to you last month but I thought it would be helpful to emphasise some of the same messages that he put across in his letter:

• In line with national legislation that has been in place for decades, it is the responsibility of schools in Lewisham to manage their budgets and spending. It is not Lewisham council's fault that Forest Hill School’s budget was mismanaged. The school has to live within its means and there is no option to bail out the school or write off its deficit.

• The new head teacher and new chair of governors of Forest Hill school are tackling the school’s budget deficit by reducing staff numbers (responsibly, fairly and reasonably) and making efficiency savings.

• We are doing everything within our power to support the new head teacher and new chair of governors to raise standards and bring the school’s budget back onto a secure financial footing by helping them follow best practice in HR and in maintaining their work to improve standards at the school during this period of change.

Unfortunately the NUT is going ahead with its threatened strike action. It is currently scheduled for 21st March, 29th March, 30th March. The school will be aiming to mitigate the impact for students. I'm also pasting in below a message from the FHS website from the Headteacher, Mike Sullivan as well as some FAQs from the school since some of the blogging etc on this subject has been very misleading and alarmist. In these FAQs the 'we' is the head and the governing body of the school. 

Message from the Headteacher of Forest Hill School:

I understand that as a parent or carer you want your child to receive the very best education possible at Forest Hill School and any risk to this will cause you great concern. We want to assure you that securing the highest quality of education for all our students is the single most important priority for the school – particularly as we go through this financially challenging period.

As headteacher, I am confident that the proposed reorganisations will safeguard the quality of provision our students receive. Albeit that our current situation is one that I inherited, I remain fully committed to leading the school through this change, so that it emerges stronger and fitter to face significant short and medium term challenges. I would also like to reassure you that the school and Governing Body is working closely with London Borough of Lewisham to jointly address our financial situation. 

We have kept parents and carers informed as we move through this reorganisation process, to ensure that accurate and appropriate information is communicated. However, there is now information in the public domain, some of which has been unhelpfully and inaccurately shared from confidential consultation documents, that is, understandably, causing concern among pupils and parents. I would like to address these and sincerely hope that you are reassured about the actual situation. If you have questions or require further clarification, I am more than happy for you to get in touch with me.

Forest Hill School FAQs

Will there be staff redundancies?

In any reorganisation designed to cut costs, there will inevitably be staff reductions and this is the case for Forest Hill School. As part of our extensive and meticulous planning we have strived to minimise these as far as we can and to ensure there is no adverse impact of students’ education.

There have been no compulsory redundancies for midday meals supervisors. Duty hours were aligned to the 45 minute lunch break. A number decided not to continue working the reduced hours. Currently the school employs four midday meals supervisors working alongside other school staff to provide supervision for pupils at lunchtime.

The number of teaching assistant posts remains unchanged and their working hours have been increased.

The school administration team was reorganised in November 2016. The number of posts remains at 12, with changes in the roles and responsibilities of some staff.

Will there be a reduced curriculum for students?

No subjects are being cut from the curriculum. We are, however, proposing to remodel the KS4 offer by moving from four to three options and this was already under consideration for reasons other than financial savings. We were considering this following last summer’s exam results and the resulting need to address the particularly poor performance of students in the middle ability range.

Will there be less support for students with English as an additional language (EAL) and students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)?

Support for students with EAL and SEN needs will continue to ensure that they can effectively access our high quality curriculum. To ensure support is provided for pupils for whom English is an additional language, there will be dedicated curriculum periods for EAL pupils of different competencies delivered by MFL specialists with support from Higher Level Teaching Assistants. Where appropriate, EAL students will continue to be prepared and entered for the English as a Second Language (ESOL) qualifications.

Will teacher workload increase?

All classroom teachers with no other responsibilities will be timetabled to teach 22 out of 25 lessons per week. This constitutes a loading of 88% which is below the statutory maximum of 90%. We are, of course, exploring changes to our systems which will allow us to reduce teacher workload as far as we can.

Will there be reduced resources for students?

While we are dealing with a significant budget challenge, we can assure you that nothing we do to put the school back on secure financial footing will impact students’ education in terms of textbooks, ICT provision and specialist equipment available. To suggest this is the case has absolutely no basis in fact.

Will extra-curricular activities be affected?

Activities outside the classroom are a key part of our students’ learning. While there will inevitably be some changes, our approach will seek ensure continuation of a balanced, varied and appropriate range of extra-curricular activities reflecting the needs of our students.

Forest Hill School's PFI Contract

Finally, some of you have asked me about the PFI contract which FHS is part of. On the one hand, this is what it is - a contract which the local authority entered into many years ago in order to get the schools rebuilt and some schools find the annual payments a strain. Indeed we have identified the pressures that the annual payments cause for school budgets and have (with the agreement of all schools) introduced a new factor into the school budget formula which caps any school's annual payment to 10% of the school's budget. Non-PFI schools spend about 10% of their budget on facilities management, repairs and maintenance and the other functions which the PFI contractor fulfils. So the PFI contract is not the cause of FHS's budget overspend. The school is more or less full and has not had the problems experienced by schools which are not able to attract full cohorts. 

If you hear other rumours or concerns circulating, do let me know and we will help the school address these in their communication with parents as well as circulating information to you all as is helpful.