A head teacher has described the devastating effect of the schools budget crisis in Cardiff with one warning councillors: “We are setting up our children for failure now and in the future." Staff will be cut, subject choices lost, and pupils still suffering fallout from the pandemic won’t get help they need, Patrick Brunnock, head of high-performing Corpus Christi High School, told the city council's children and young people scrutiny committee.
In a stark message Mr Brunnock said his teachers had complained the school’s recent glowing Estyn report was “false advertising” because so much of what they had offered was being lost. He said he has cut 16 members of staff ahead of September, specialist staff are being shed, and four subject choices, including music, have gone.
In a budget impact statement to the committee on July 4 Cardiff secondary heads said: “Already this year the measures we have taken (to meet costs) will significantly negatively impact pupils and disproportionately affect vulnerable learners. Standards will drop.”
