Transforming Our Primary Schools (TOPS)
Why is all this happening?
Why is the council doing this? Why not leave the primary schools as they are?
It would be easy to do nothing!
But we want to give local children the best possible start in life.
That means spending your money on them, not on excessive management costs and empty rooms.
At the moment, the public is paying for a lot of surplus places and a larger than average number of separate primary schools compared with similar local authorities.
This means that more money is being spent on buildings and management costs, so less is available for children’s education in the classroom.
This isn’t just the council’s view. OfSTED and the Audit Commission have also drawn attention to this.
And there are going to be some major opportunities to invest in excellent new buildings for primary children in the next few years.
South Tyneside will miss out on those opportunities if we try to hang on to the inefficient system we now have.
What has this got to do with educational standards?
The overriding aim of TOPS is to help raise educational standards – South Tyneside’s highest priority.
The council’s Children and Young People’s Services is working to secure high standards of achievement and attainment.
This is clearly emphasised in our Children and Young People Plan, and all the borough-wide strategic plans.
Using available resources effectively is a key part of supporting schools in raising standards.
If we spend less on buildings and infrastructure costs, it means more money is available for teachers and resources to support learning.
For example, the cost of our excess surplus places equates to the cost of employing a significant number of additional teachers.
This is really all about saving money, isn’t it?
No. South Tyneside is a good spender on education and there is no intention to reduce overall expenditure on primary education through this review.
The issue is how that money is spent.
