HARWICH and Manningtree schools have lost out on more than £3.5 million in real term funding due to cuts, it has been revealed.

School Cuts, a campaign against slashing funding for schools across the country, has released figures showing the schools which have been hit the hardest by a lack of Government funding.

It revealed schools in the Harwich and Manningtree area have seen their funding shrink by more than £3.5 million altogether since 2015.

Harwich and Dovercourt High School has suffered the worst in the area, with its funding being slashed in real terms by £1.3 million over the past four years.

It equates to a loss of £545 per pupil.

Manningtree High School has also been badly affected by cuts, losing out on £512,623 since 2015.

This is a loss of £211 per pupils for its 798 students.

Spring Meadow Primary School, in Dovercourt, and Bradfield Primary School were the other two worst affected schools in the area.

Sally Morris, Manningtree High School’s headteacher, said teachers are saddened and frustrated, on the students’ behalf, by the compromises they have to make due to the lack of funding.

She said: “The government repeatedly states that more money is going in to education than ever before.

“That may be true but there are more children in our schools than ever before and wage bills, pension costs and fuel bills also go up year on year.

“We have kept staff numbers tight in order to balance the books and, as we are a growing school, can manage to afford the staffing we need to maintain the quality of education and support that is important to us at the moment.

“However, if future pay rises are unfunded, we are unlikely to be able to balance our budget.

“The impact of this is that it is a real struggle to buy the day to day essentials for school and to balance the budget at the same time.

“Once wages and utilities have come out of the annual grant, there is very little left for books, equipment, furniture and other basic resources.”

The Standard, alongside Funding For Schools, is campaigning to put more pressure on the Government for cash for local schools.

But the Government has argued it is has provided more cash for schools than ever before.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “This year, under the national funding formula, funding for schools in Essex has increased by 3.3 per cent per pupil, compared to 2017/18. “This is equivalent to an extra £48.7 million in total, when rising pupil numbers are taken into account.

“While we have made funding fairer, we know schools face budgeting challenges, which is why we have introduced a wide range of support to help schools reduce costs and get the best value from their resources – from a free-to-use vacancy service to cut the costs of recruiting teachers, to advisors who are providing expert help and support to individual schools that need it.

“The Secretary of State has made clear that as we approach the next spending review, he will back head teachers to have the resources they need to deliver a world class education in the years ahead.”

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