SCHOOL FUNDING CRISIS: Sheffield headteacher considers cutting school week to four-and-a-half days

The primary headteacher said reducing the school week was one of the options he was considering along with redundancies as he tries to save tens of thousands of pounds from his budget.

He has spoken out after it emerged that Sheffield schools are the worst funded out of all the major cities in England and the Government's new national funding formula, aimed at correcting historic disparities in the funding system, does little to alleviate the situation.

The headteacher said: "I am going to have to do something radical to save money.

"The first option I am looking at is redundancies.

"This would involved losing key staff because of the amount of money we have to save.

"The other option I am looking at is cutting the week to four-and-a-half days.

"This would potentially stop the redundancies and keep the same level of support and the same service, but it would see full-time staff having their contracts cut."

The headteacher said with the amount of money he has to save, redundancies would see the staffing level cut so much that the school would not be able to offer the same level of service and extra pressure would be put on already hardworking staff.

He said morally he would be unsure if he could stay in his position as headteacher.

He added: "Whenever you get into redundancies of this amount that it impacts morally.

"I don't know if I can carry on doing my job if I know it's not feasible for the school to operate at the same level.

"I have to make a moral decision - do I stay or do I walk away?

"If I walk away then what happens to the school, because it will continue but not at the same level."

The Star has launched a campaign calling for fairer funding for city schools and has the backing of politicians and headteachers.