CASH-strapped high schools in Wyre Forest are taking part in a campaign to demand more funding for Worcestershire children.

Head teachers from across the county will march to Downing Street on September 28, backing the ‘Worth Less?’ movement which is calling for fairer funding for schools.

Letters are also being sent home to parents of children at Wolverley CE Secondary, Baxter College, Bewdley, Stourport, Holy Trinity and King Charles I schools urging them to back the campaign and write to Wyre Forest MP Mark Garnier.

In the letter, parents are told that the funding per pupil in Worcestershire is £887 less than those in Birmingham.

It also states that some schools in the county have been forced to set deficit budgets for the next financial year.

Bryn Thomas, from Wolverley, said: “Every one of the county’s 30 high schools is writing home about their financial situation in the new school year.

“The heads are united in warning parents that they cannot prevent another year of belt tightening from affecting their children.

“The letter lists some effects of these economies: larger classes, fewer options and less support for the most vulnerable.

“It recognises that a new method for allocating government money across the country has been a step towards a fairer system.

“But the gap between schools in Worcestershire and those over the border in southern Birmingham is still far too wide. Year after year the county’s children have lived with this disadvantage.

“The letter also sets out the declining real value of the national investment in schools since 2015.

“Although the headline figure has gone up, the demands upon school budgets have gone up still faster.

“Head teachers believe, along with almost every parent, that the years of secondary education are precious.

“Across Worcestershire’s 30 high schools there is not only frustration and anxiety, but a determination to take some action.”

Mr Garnier said: “I’m very sympathetic to their point of view. I don’t want our schools to be under-funded as it is important to get education right.

“Education could not be more core to what we do and I do think we have had enough of austerity and need to look at what we do with public spending and get the right balance.

“But funding for schools is going up above inflation – it’s just not going up as it used to. Individual schools also have a look at their own expenditure and manage their budgets.”