Teaching assistants pay price of funding blunder

As many as seven of 21 teaching assistants at Garforth Green Lane Primary Academy, Leeds, face an uncertain future and may lose their posts.

The school, which was the first primary in Yorkshire to become an academy, had been told how much money it would receive from the Government’s Young People’s Learning Agency this academic year.

Funding is affected by the school’s academy status.

It has now emerged that that total was £117,000 more than it should have been.

The school has now been ordered to hand back the overpayments so far – understood to be about £42,000. Managers say the budget could be balanced by axing the seven teaching assistant posts.

A school source said staff were told last Friday.

“People are shocked, to put it mildly,” said the source. “They were told that becoming an academy was the right thing to do but it seems the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.”

Last June, the school was told it would receive £1,258,612 from the Young People’s Learning Agency – but the figure should have been £1,141,161.

The school was told about the error in October.

Green Lane has been under the control of the School Partnership Trust Academies (SPTA) charitable organisation since it converted to academy status.

A spokeswoman for the SPTA confirmed that an “overpayment” had been made and said they were “working to adjust the budget”.

The spokeswoman added: “It is too early to say exactly what level of impact there will be, but it’s possible there will be staff reductions as a consequence of any repayments.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said Green Lane had agreed to pay back the money over a 12-month period.

None of the governors were available to comment last night.

State schools that become academies receive funding direct the Government’s YPLA rather than their local authority.

They also get greater freedom to set their curriculum, admission criteria, holiday times and employment policies.

Green Lane Primary Academy was formerly Garforth Green Lane Primary School.

The most recent Ofsted inspection was in 2009, before it became an academy.

The 2009 report rated the school “outstanding” and said that parents were highly complimentary.

It praised the headteacher, Tammie Prince – now the principal – for providing “inspirational leadership”, adding: “In a relatively short time, she has assembled a highly effective senior leadership team whose complementary skills ensure that the school functions at full capacity every day.”