Head warns of cuts impact on children (From Barry And District News)

Head warns of cuts impact on children

THE head of Bryn Hafren Comprehensive has warned that budget cuts for Vale schools will have a damaging effect on the education of children throughout the area.

Phil Whitcombe, headteacher at Bryn Hafren, said: "We are very disappointed with the levels of funding in the Vale again this year and are concerned about the impact this will have on our schools. Pupils have one chance to be successful in school and we need to fund at a level that offers them every possibility of success."

Brian Lightman, branch secretary of the Secondary Heads Association in the Vale and Headteacher of St Cyres School, said: "Yet again Secondary Headteachers in the Vale of Glamorgan are wondering how to make ends meet in the light of further real terms cuts in their budgets.

"Headteachers are angry that they have been left with budgets which make no allowance for inflation let alone growth or development."

The Secondary Heads Association in the Vale say the Vale of Glamorgan remains one of the lowest funding authorities in the whole of Wales and the UK. It claims Vale pupils receive hundreds of pounds less than their peers in other authorities. The Vale of Glamorgan Council Cabinet Member for Education, Tony Hampton said: "School budgets in the Vale are developed in collaboration with headteachers.