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 05/11/2009, 8:35 AM
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thelibrarian
Joined on 27/08/2009
Posts 394
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Fair deal for Norfolk school children
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Once again the EDP has twigged that children in Norfolk still get less than the national average to pay for their education
Suffolk has exactly the same problem.
http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/edp24/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=xDefault&itemid=NOED04%20Nov%202009%2012%3A23%3A27%3A893
It is in fact just over half that allocated to some schools in London boroughs. And Sheilagh Hutson has the gall to respond by defending how well Norfolk does with the money they get, which is like being grateful for the crumbs that fall from a table and rather misses the point. How can she say- of course we need more but children in our schools are not as deprived as some of those in London boroughs? Does she not know that not long ago the Nelson (middle of the town) ward in Yarmouth was statistically the 5th most deprived in the country? A deprived and impoverished child is a deprived child where ever it lives.
And I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the London boroughs get the funding they do because they are high profile and because of their ethnic minority populations and what she means is that Norfolk kids dont go round stabbing each other , roaming about fighting in racially defined gangs and that no one is going to make a high profile fuss in the tabloids about the state of their educational achievements. In other words it is another example of the state of mind that produces the police trip to Alton Towers.
You can be a kid in Norfolk or Suffolk whose parents are drunks or don't care or are really poor and send you to school in wellies and with no decent clothes and the government doesn't give a toss about how your school copes with your problems because after all, it is only East Anglia and can be brushed off as a joke.
Children in Norfolk schools have been on the receiving end of low government council tax support payments for as long as I can remember, and so are the rest of us- which is why our social services are struggling to keep a decent level of service and our road surfaces are crumbling and we pay more council tax per head than some London boroughs . East Anglia gets a raw deal from government, they keep their voters in urban and Northern constituencies happy on our taxes whilst our kids underperform in underfunded schools and our county infrastructures crumble.
I don't know what can be done about it- but if Labour MPs, and district and county councilllors in rural areas all over the country had some guts and integrity they might join with MPs and councillors from other parties and start to wake up voters to this unfair treatment . Paying tax and NI to be redistributed in the form of a a national infrastructure, NHS treatment, pensions and benefits is one thing, but paying tax and business rates so that they can be redistributed unfairly is another.
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05/11/2009, 12:02 PM
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thelibrarian
Joined on 27/08/2009
Posts 394
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Re: Fair deal for Norfolk school children
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To add insult to injury NCC are now taking away some of the finance for post 16 transport leaving some parents with bills of around £500 a year to get their children to sixth form or college Not funny if you live in Fakenham and your kid has a course at the college in Lynn, not funny all round really.
This comes not long after the release of figures showing poor take up of post 16 education and lower than average numbers of Norfolk children going to university
Well never mind, no doubt Sheilagh Hutson is a Jimmy Carr or russell Howard fan so she is happy to see us as the butt of jokes and educational attainment in Norfolk in the pits . Or perhaps she is a fan of blanket development bringing in young people who have been able to get a decent education eleswhere in the country whilst our kids fill the hum drum jobs.
Whatever she is I suspect she was privately educated.
Why can't some of the landfill/recycling payments be used for essential stuff like getting kids to college/sixth form and not on airy fairy projects dreamt up on the back of an envelope?
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05/11/2009, 3:30 PM
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john
Joined on 07/08/2007
Posts 1,888
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Re: Fair deal for Norfolk school children
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The transport system for schools is a very complex one Librarian.First of all the council have to tender for the contract.Over a 3 year period how can you consider buying new buses or increasing staff without knowing what your budget will be next year?This leaves a shortage of drivers and escorts.Agency drivers cost a lot more than those employed by the council and when it comes to using taxis,they charge a massive fare.Diversity is the key.Use the council owned buses for other work when not used for the schools.Use them at week-ends for the various organisations and charities.During the long school holidays the drivers can be used to do other work in the schools.Remember also that the buses that carry children with medical conditions have to have properly trained drivers and escorts.The school buses here have to travel over 100 miles each journey on some routes,so it is not quite the same as organising a normal bus company.Some of the children are picked up at 7a.m.and return home after 5.30 p.m.That makes it a long day for the children.I did actually see a bill which a taxi driver submitted for a 25 mile journey.£400 for the one trip,he then wanted the same for the return trip.Not bad eh! John
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06/11/2009, 9:17 AM
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thelibrarian
Joined on 27/08/2009
Posts 394
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Re: Fair deal for Norfolk school children
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Firstly, not all students in sixth form are in receipt of the full EMA, it is means tested, and some do not receive it at all. Secondly it is not intended to cover transport as far as I am aware, but to encourage children from lower income families to stay on to gain qualifications when their parents might be putting pressure on them to leave school because money is short. That you and two other families were obliged to transport your children to a collection point 7 miles distant only serves to illustrate the failings of NCC in providing transport in a rural area. Getting together with lifts is not a satisfactory option for most students attending high schools, sixth form colleges and FEs, especially if they live in rural areas and having a transport system that relies on parents is probably one of the reasons uptake of FE courses and VIth form courses is lower than it should be in Norfolk.
Many VIth form students and FE students in Norfolk, John, rely on public transport - I have not seen a school owned bus used for transporting kids to school, just those used for sports and trips.
As someone pointed out elsewhere, the money spent on blindly pursuing the building of the NDR could have been spent on something better, like making sure kids who live outside walking distance from places offering A levels and FE courses can get to them. When I was in sixth form friends travelled from Hunstanton, Docking Narborough etc and the travel was free.
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17/11/2009, 10:11 AM
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thelibrarian
Joined on 27/08/2009
Posts 394
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Re: Fair deal for Norfolk school children
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I am pleased to see reported in the EDP that NCC has backed down on the proposal to charge parents more for school transport. Someone made them see sense it seems, perhaps pointed out how bad it would look if there is an even lower uptake of post 16 education in Norfolk and if our kids continue to underperform- might expose the shortcomings of NCCs children's /education department. I reckon this certainly exposes Sheilagh Hutson's attitude, and it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth that the head of children's services could even have considered such a move. I have a sneaking suspicion that Ms Hutson is not a product of the state school system or at least has no idea of the obstacles some kids face trying to get a decent education.
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EDP24 Forums » EDP24 General » News » Fair deal for Norfolk school children
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