 Dear all,
Thank you for
all your ideas re continuing to raise the issue of school funding. Credit
to Mike Johnson at Chulmleigh Academy Trust for being the inspiration behind the following:
#RightToGoodLearning (Devon)
Campaign
What do you need to do: a 20
second video to phone or ipad, home-made, stating your name and school/trust,
why you think the current funding is unfair for schools, why the schools and
children should be a priority, the ethical issue/ 'justice', accurate facts
about the situation.
By when: Tuesday 23rd May
We will use social media to
spread the word about funding concerns: The objective is to counter some of the
messages which have not contained ‘the whole truth’ and use social media
platforms in an innovative way to capture the attention of parents about the
enormity of the decisions headteachers are ‘facing up to’ around funding so
that they can decide if they agree with us that nothing is more important than
the education of children.
To have a big impact, it will
need group participation. As with the funding letters, the more, the better
please.
Headteachers should send a short
snappy video piece (20 seconds maximum). We will upload it to YouTube. Using a
phone or an iPad will be great. We’re normal! It will make it look natural. If
it is longer than 20 seconds, it will be edited. We will reserve the right to
edit it so that it is coherent and ‘on message’.
Please send the MP4 file to nsmith@chulmleigh.devon.sch.uk
To do this, please use
wetransfer.com (https://wetransfer.com/)
which is easy to do. Also send another email to Nick Smiths address the usual
way to say you have sent it please, making it clear who you are.
When we have 6, we will start it
and open it and let you know and give updates until everyone gets into
the habit of looking!
We will also post a good quote
from your ‘quote’ on Facebook and also a link to your YouTube clip.
It would be great for schools/
individual headteachers to then share these videos on Twitter / Facebook / any
social media platform with the hashtag #LetThemLearn. If we can get
enough people talking about this, posting with hashtag then it could trend.
Especially if we get national media coverage.
Essentially, it’s the same sort
of message as the letter that went out, but more ‘personal’ and ‘modern’. This
has the capacity to trend and become a big developing story, but that will
depend on colleague headteachers.
We have set up the following
pages and they are ready to go:
https://www.facebook.com/Letthemlearn-786039044896702/
https://www.youtube.com/user/LetThemLearn
Guidance:
On your video clip please keep
it positive (but possibly with a worrying statement at the end). Here are two examples:
Nothing is more important
than the education of children and I think this should be society’s top
priority. I recognise that money is tight, but what will happen in 10 years if
we do not pay attention to this now?
I want all children in
society to have had a fair opportunity to develop skills and talents as a
result of having had well paid teachers who are able to release talents. I want
to play a part in ensuring that our country and our values continue to influence
the world and that in the future we will all be prosperous.
For the first time in my
career, I’m unsure this will happen because our school has been presented
with a decimated budget.
OR
We repeatedly hear claims
that school funding is at a record high. This is not true when you look at the
amount of money funded per pupil.
Funding has remained static
whilst costs have risen. Rates of inflation and other pressures on funding
means that schools have to save £3 billion. We will do this by cutting
teachers, cutting teaching assistants, cutting support for learning, cutting
resources and cutting opportunities for children. Headteachers across Devon are
dismantling the provision in good and outstanding schools to balance our
budgets.
Teachers work in education to
support and develop young people. Whilst every teacher I have spoken to is
determined to continue to put children first, there is no doubt that children
in the future will receive an education which is worse than their older
brothers or sisters. Your son, daughter, grandchild, niece, nephew will suffer
as a result.
This country claims to want a
world class education system for all children. To make Britain great again we
need talented, educated children. This country will not have a world class
education system if future governments do not fund education properly.
Best wishes,
Matthew Shanks | DASH Co-Ordinator and on behalf of DASH
Devon Association of Secondary Headteachers
| 
