Know your child's worth

There is so much to be thankful to our schools for - they provide our children with the education required to follow their desired pathways later in life. However, without our children schools would simply not exist.

Did you know that the school's annual budget is largely decided on the basis of how many children are registered in a school at the beginning of the previous October? This means that by sending your child to a school you are ensuring that the school will receive thousands of pounds in their budget.

The latest figures released by the Education Authority shows exactly how much each school in Northern Ireland have received in their 2023/24 budgets. This, therefore, allows you to calculate exactly how much you are giving to the school by simply sending your child there.

The figures released show that a school receives the following for each child:

  • Keys Stage 1&2 (Primary School): £2545.37
  • Keys Stages 3&4 (Secondary School Years 8-12): £4056.24
  • Key Stage 5 (Secondary School Years 13 and 14): £5263.46

If, by simply sending a child to a school, parents are providing the budget for that school should they get a say on what is taught in RSE lessons? We think so!

While school budgets may often amount to millions of pounds the reality is that schools are already stretched to breaking point with many running a deficit. The threat that pupils may be withdrawn from the school over the school's RSE Policy could be catastrophic to schools already struggling to make ends meet.

At Campaign Against RSE (NI) we believe that parents should have the right to send their children to, and hence provide funding to, schools that relfect their own values. That's why we're in the process of creating a 'Safe Schools List' to identify schools that will not change their RSE Policy to match the new curriculum.

Action Points

  • Watch out for our 'Safe Schools List' appearing this winter.
  • If your school is designated unsafe team up with other concerned parents and serve notice on the school that you intend to withdraw your children from school if the RSE Policy is changed. This is best done as a group of parents.
  • If the school persists with the new RSE curriculum consider moving your children to a school designated as safe, an independant Christian school or homeschooling.