Head tightens belts to pay back £369,000

BALANCING the books . . . head John Meagher

THE head teacher at Failsworth School has revealed its four-year plan to pay back a £369,000 budget overspend to Oldham Council.

The school, based in Brierley Avenue, has already started to implement the plan, with staff numbers reduced by 12 and the school tightly controlling its spending.

Head teacher John Meagher insists the plan will not impact on teaching or on the pupils.

Mr Meagher, who took up his post in January, said: “This was a challenge when I arrived but it has presented opportunities for restructuring quickly and efficiently so the school can move forward.

“I’m trusted with making sure the school presents a balanced budget.

“We’ve got a fantastic partnership working with staff, the governors and Oldham Council.

“Failsworth School is a much leaner and better restructured institution.”

Mr Meagher said reasons for the budget deficit included the additional teaching staff brought in to improve school standards.

Another reason was an end to extra funding given to split-site schools.

Failsworth Upper School and Lower School operated from different buildings until the current £35million premises was opened in 2008.

Mr Meagher said the plan has not meant redundancies among staff.

He said: “We have reduced staff by 12 to about 88 members, which is the same as other schools this size. No one has been made redundant, staff have gone to other schools, in the UK and abroad, and it was good to see that most took up promotion opportunities.

“We are looking at any fixed costs we can chase up, chasing money from external sources and reining in spending.

“This means being careful about spending on books, papers, print cartridges, and mindful about things like switching off computer screens.

“But there will be no cuts to students’ books or teaching provision, and we are on target to get the best-ever GCSE results this year.”