March 2011

We Must Fight Government Cuts

Bradford Council faced an 11% cut to its budget as a result of reductions in government grants this year. It is not possible to make cuts of this size without damaging services.

The Council carried out a public consultation and found that education was the public’s highest priority for protection in this situation. We believe that the Council has done its best to achieve this, but there is still a shortfall of the money available for central spending on education of about £2 million. Some NUT members working for Education Bradford have already been given notice of redundancy as a result.

Schools get most of their money from a ring-fenced grant called the Dedicated Schools Grant. The lobby outside City Hall

At best, this has been frozen as a cash amount per pupil, with no allowance for inflation. However, cuts have been made to post-16 funding and capital allocations for everyday repairs, so most schools will be worse off.

NUT members, UNISON members and other concerned groups lobbied the Council Meeting on 24th February and received good publicity. This government intends to keep cutting for another three years. We need to make our voices heard loudly enough to stop them.

Bradford Schools robbed of another £1.6m

In addition to savings being forced on local authorities, the Coalition Government has decided to raid education budgets to pay for their Academy and FreeSchool programme.

Unsurprisingly, it is proving to be very expensive to provide new school buildings and refurbish old buildings so, short of cash for setting up these schools, they have hit upon the idea of top-slicing every authority’s education budget. The amount taken has nothing to do with how many Academies and FreeSchools an authority plans to have but is based solely on how many school-age children live in the authority. So far, around £400 million nationally has been plundered, and Bradford has lost £1.6million.

Remember “We’re all in this together”?

Not if you’re setting up an Academy or a FreeSchool you aren’t! All of our local authority schools and their pupils are suffering through this break-up of the local authority family of schools.

‘Northern Towns Against the Cuts’

On February 12th members of public sector unions demonstrated against government cuts to public services ‘Northern Towns Against the Cuts’ organized the rally in Halifax. Several hundred people, including a good contingent from Bradford NUT, marched through the town centre to the Piece Hall where speakers included Ian Murch from the NUT, Linda Riordan MP and Tim Roache from the GMB, as well as speakers representing the local community.

Day off for the Wedding

Schools which are closed for the Easter Holidays when the royal wedding takes place will not miss out on a day off. The DfE has announced that these schools will be able to select a day to close in lieu of it. The day has to be taken during the summer term.

To allow this to happen a temporary variation has been made to the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document which reduces our working days for this year from 195 to 194.

If you work in an Academy, and are employed under the STPCD, you are entitled to this day off. If you are not so employed the position is more complicated and depends on the terms of your contract, but the NUT would argue that where staff in the same school are employed on different contracts, they should be treated in the same way for the purposes of this holiday.

Equality Matters . . .

. . .how to make your school LGBT friendly

This course, to be held at the NUT’s national headquarters, is intended for secondary teachers and curriculum leaders, teachers with pastoral and equality responsibilities, and all those wanting to make their school or classroom more LGBT aware.

Course title: Educate and Celebrate

Where? Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, LondonWH1H 9BD

When? Tuesday 22nd March, 10am – 4pm

Aims:

To promote positive attitudes towards LGBT equality through teaching and learning in the curriculum and combating homophobia;

To encourage a whole school approach through classroom resources, lesson plans and assembly ideas;

To provide a professional development opportunity which is practical, relaxed and friendly.

The NUT will help members with the cost of the course (£20) and with travel costs. If you are interested, please contact this office for further details and application form.

. . .please help with Equality Survey

Bradford NUT Equality Group is conducting its first equalities survey of members to learn about their experience of equality in the workplace. We will use the information to help us in providing support to all our members. No forms to fill in or letters to post, just go to

We will be collating all responses during the summer term so please complete the survey by 30th April. We will publish the results on our website and in our Newsletter.

Many thanks, Alison Hill, Equalities Officer

. . .Equality Group meetings

Bradford NUT has an active Equality Group which meets at the Edmund St. office. All NUT members are eligible to join and will be very welcome. The next meeting of the Group is on Thursday March 31st at the NUT Office. A representative from the Equalities Commission will be there to answer questions.

Health and Safety

. . . Don’t slip up

Slips and trips are by far the biggest cause of accidents to school staff. Of 49 accidents reported to the Authority between October 2010 and January 2011, 26 were caused by slipping or tripping.

What can you do to keep yourself safe?

  • Try to be aware of hazards in your classroom such as torn carpets or pupils’ bags on the floor
  • Avoid trailing cables - if you need to plug something in away from the wall, ask for a cable mat
  • Sorry if this sounds patronising – don’t carry boxes or books in such a way that you can’t see your feet
  • Don’t walk on a surface where there is a Wet Floor hazard sign
  • Always report dangers which are caused by poor maintenance such as wet floors and torn carpets, and mention them to the next Union Health and Safety Rep to visit the school. To find out who the rep for your school is, and the date of their next visit, please ring the office.

Retirement seminars

Seminars are run by Bradford Council for employees who are reaching retirement. They cover topics such as financial planning, making a will, and health and well-being. Places are limited for seminars on March 10th, 24th and 31st. They are held at City Hall and take place between 9.30 and 12. The cost of each one is £7.

For information ring 01274 434529 or send an email to