Sheffield School Places Election Crisis - Affluent Schools Demand Increase in Funding

By: N_Walayat

The latest saga in Sheffield's school places crisis is the ganging together of Sheffield's affluent area state schools to demand an increase in funding per pupil so as to better match the amount received per pupil funding for Sheffield's less affluent area schools that in a letter Head teachers of the affluent schools typically estimate as £3,477 against as high as £5,000 per pupils for less affluent area schools.

Sheffield affluent area schools campaigning for an increase in funding:

• Dobcroft Infant School,
• Dobcroft Junior School,
• Dore Primary School,
• Ecclesall Infants School,
• Ecclesall C of E Junior School,
• Greystones Primary School,
• Lydgate Infant School,
• Lydgate Junior School,
• Nether Green Infant School,
• Nether Green Junior School,
• Totley C of E Primary School

This illustrates a point that I have often made over the years which is that despite far less funding, affluent area schools are consistently able to rank towards the top of the school league tables because of the fundamental fact that it is NOT the teachers that determine whether a state school performs well but rather it is the PARENTS! As the teachers are of virtually the same caliber across all state schools.

In reality average state schools can only become good state schools because the PARENTS of children go out of their way to educate their children far beyond the capability of what the schools teach. Therefore it is the middle class 'pushy' parents who through extracurricular activities and actively pushing the state schools to outperform through a myriad of suggested activities that turns an ordinary state school into a good state school. Conversely populating a good state school with children of parents who do not do the same is just going to eventually result in that good state school becoming just another bottom ranking school.

This has happened several times before in Sheffield, for instance the socialist Labour City council had a Baldrick-esk cunning plan to open up one of Sheffield's best state schools at the time (early 1990's), Abbeydale Grange to out of catchment children, that given its high league table standing was soon swamped that subsequently resulted in the school going from being one of the best ranked schools in the city to literally the worst all within a few years, where it got to the point that NO parent wanted to send their child to Abbeydale Grange which ultimately resulted in the school being closed down some 3 years ago. That's what happens to good state schools when they are opened up to outside of catchment or continue to allow rampant fraud in school place applications that blights Sheffield's affluent schools due to lack of any real consequences of.

Against this ivory tower academics keep coming out with studies that literally state that affluent parents hog places at Sheffield's best schools, studies that are clearly devoid of commonsense to realise that it is the affluent parents who are responsible for the existence of the good state schools in the first place, for if it were a question of funding then the school league tables would be in reverse order! Instead what academics recommend is a recipe for disaster of turning all of Sheffield schools into bottom ranking state schools.

The Star - Pupils from posh suburbs hog Sheffield’s best school, report reveals

Sheffield Schools Crisis and Hallam Constituency Election 2015

Clearly the head teachers of Sheffield's affluent schools have been galvanised into collective action in the run up to the too close to call general election to put pressure on the Labour city council to increase funding as a political weapon given that the Sheffield Hallam constituency where virtually all of the campaigning schools are located is a close election battleground between the Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg and the Labour candidate that a recent opinion poll puts the Lib Dems 2% behind Labour (34% to 36%), that I extensively covered in this recent video on local issues, including school funding, expansion and places, which also definitively answers the question can Nick Clegg win and retain his Sheffield Hallam Seat at the May 7th general election.

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By Nadeem Walayat

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

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Nadeem Walayat has over 25 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis focuses on UK inflation, economy, interest rates and housing market. He is the author of five ebook's in the The Inflation Mega-Trend and Stocks Stealth Bull Market series that can be downloaded for Free.

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