Schools in Kirklees are spending more than ever on supply teachers.

The cost of providing cover in local schools has almost doubled in two years - despite a pledge to cut the bill.

Figures just released reveal the bill for teaching cover in 2014/15 was £8.3m. In fact, the actual cost was higher as these figures do not take academies into account

Two years ago it was just £4.5m and Kirklees Council then said that the bill was reducing year on year.

The bill for teaching cover in 2014/15 was £8.3m.
The bill for teaching cover in 2014/15 was £8.3m.

But this year’s bill was more than £1m up on last year – even excluding academies and several of them were included in previous figures.

The increase comes at a time when teaching unions are reporting increasing levels of stress in the classroom and some 18 experienced Kirklees headteachers are leaving this summer, many taking early retirement.

Constantly changing goalposts have left some teachers and school leaders feeling they are swimming against the tide as the Department for Education and Ofsted constantly demand more.

Once again, a small number of North Kirklees schools accounted for a large chunk of the supply teaching bill.

Four of them: Fairfield School, Batley, Dewsbury’s Chickenley Community School, Batley Business and Enterprise College (BBEC) and Westborough High School accounted for £1.45m of the total.

Chickenley Community J I and N School

Fairfield, which caters for 124 pupils with severe learning difficulties, topped the Kirklees list with a whopping £587,250 bill – the equivalent of £4,736 per pupil.

The total bill for the five special schools under Kirklees Council’s control was £960,354, or £1,700 for each of their 565 children.

Fairfield School at White Lee, Batley.
Fairfield School at White Lee, Batley.

The three primary schools with the biggest bills are all in Dewsbury. Topping the list for Huddersfield is Crosland Moor Juniors, which racked up costs of £115,965, followed by nearby Dryclough Infants, £97,035, and Headlands CofE, Liversedge, £94,645.

Crosland Moor Junior School

Lowest primary school spenders were Meltham £150, Newsome Juniors £156, St John’s Infants, Dewsbury, £262, Norristhorpe £273, Scapegoat Hill £667, and Spring Grove £690

After Westborough and BBEC, Honley High had the highest spend of Huddersfield’s secondary and middle schools with costs of £217,635, followed by Kirkburton Middle School, £191,788, and Royds Hall, £183,337.

Honley High School.
Honley High School.

A spokesman for Kirklees Council said: “The use of supply teachers is a widely used solution to manage occasional staff sickness, maternity leave and times when staff are away from school on training courses.

“This is funded in many different ways, including through insurance, and is the best way for headteachers and chairs of governors to manage the pressures locally within their school budgets.”