Lego pieces for laptop keys as Peterborough schools battle funding crisis

Lego pieces being used for laptop keys at Sacred Heart RC Primary School

The funding crisis for Peterborough schools has become so severe that staff are having to replace laptop keys with pieces of lego.

Last week the Peterborough Telegraph revealed the city’s education chief is predicting that schools will soon be forced to close some days as they struggle to balance the books.

Jonathan Lewis, service director for education at Peterborough City Council, said the situation is “as bad as I’ve ever seen it,” and that the authority will write to Education Secretary Damian Hinds asking for more funding.

Children reading old library books in Sacred Heart's library EMN-190717-122620009

This week the PT spoke to two school headteachers who have had to make cutbacks which they say are impacting the support they can offer their pupils.

This includes making teaching assistants redundant, not replacing outdated equipment and relying on parents to pay for items or extra-curricular activities.

Mark Cooper, headteacher at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School, said the one form entry school in Bretton had seen a funding increase of 0.5 per cent in the past two years, while at the same time other costs have risen much more, including teachers’ salaries.

“The funding is not keeping up. We’ve halved our reserves in the last two years,” he said.

Children using old play equipment at Newborough C of E Primary School

Money meant to be set aside for IT or the maintenance of school buildings is instead being used to balance the books.

“Our boiler broke about 18 months ago during the Beast from the East and we had to close the school. Our diocese very kindly ended up paying for the boiler because we did not have money to do it,” he added.

“The kitchen floor needed work and the diocese had to pay for that.