Abbotsfield School head voices concerns

A HEADTEACHER has admitted his school is in financial difficulty but ensures standards are constantly rising.

David Henderson, headteacher of Abbotsfield School in Clifton Gardens, Hillingdon, is worried the reputation of the school has been tarnished after the Gazette revealed the school was getting financial help from Hillingdon Council.

He said: "The financial difficulty has been an ongoing thing for the past five or six years.
"This is my fourth year and since I have been in post I have worked very closely with the bursar and with the local authority.

"We worked hard on two different fronts. The first was to improve the standards because the school was in special measures, and the second was to make sure we were being cost affective in what we were doing.

"Whilst we understand that we need to do something about the financial difficulties, and we are getting some good support from the local authority, we must not compromise the education of the boys.

"We still aim to give value for money even though we haven't got any.
"This year we have increased our numbers by over 70 per cent and that is because the standards have risen.

"We do have difficulties balancing the budget, but by 2009/10 we will have a balanced budget and a continual raising of standards means we will move towards being able to resolve the financial issues."