SECONDARY schools in Wiltshire may have to reduce future staff numbers, affecting thousands of students, due insufficient education funding, three headteachers have warned.

Neil Spurdell, head at Sheldon in Chippenham, and Malmesbury School head Tim Gilson both confirmed it was likely that in the future staff who left may not be replaced.

Mr Spurdell, Mr Gilson and Hardenhuish head teacher Jan Hatherell have written an open letter calling for more to be done to address what they’ve labelled as a dire situation.

The trio claim that significant rises in costs for the coming academic year will make it extremely difficult for schools to retain their current level of provision.

The rises caused by a big jump in employers’ contributions towards teachers’ pensions and large increases in employers’ National Insurance contributions were both previously funded by central government and will see big proportions of schools’ budgets having to be diverted.

Mr Gilson said: “Schools like us have a fair amount of staff turnover; it’s a possible scenario that people will leave without being replaced.

“Three or so years down the line it’s looking increasingly difficult to manage the level of staffing, we won’t be able to maintain the same level of teaching.

“It’s an enormous issue; we need to make sure everyone understands there are real implications for schools of future cuts.

“We are all used to managing our budgets and we all do everything we can to make sure the direct impact on students is reduced as much as possible. However, you can’t keep taking money out of the system without there being an impact.”

The three heads say that school funding for five to 16 year-olds has been maintained at flat cash levels over the duration of the current parliament, which has not allowed for inflationary increases or pay rises.

Schools with sixth forms, such as Sheldon, Hardenhuish and Malmesbury, have seen a reduction in funding over the past four years in the region of 20 per cent for post-16 provision, which has seen a number of schools reduce their curriculum offer, teaching time or both.

It is hoped that a national funding formula would see the lower funding for Wiltshire schools brought in line with neighbouring local authorities.

Mr Spurdell said: “What we really want to do is draw attention to the disparity of funding in Wiltshire. We are one of the poorest funded authorities.

“It’s not a dig at any one political party we need commitment from whoever is in power that education is sacrosanct, it has to be a priority.”

The Department for Education has said it had protected the schools budget and had committed to introducing a national funding formula.