A TEACHERS union is claiming that by 2019 cuts in government funding could cost The Petersfield School the school teachers, or force it to reduce spending per child.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) says that government funding changes and cuts are expected to reduce education funding in Hampshire by almost £53 million in “real terms.”

The NUT website breaks the figure down and reveals that TPS could lose £470,473, and that to make up the shortfall 13 teachers would have to go, or spending per child would fall by £358.

A spokesman for the NUT said: “The estimated reduction in the school’s annual budget by 2019 is in real terms, under current Government policies.

“These include plans to reallocate school budgets according to a new national funding formula, and not increasing funding per pupil in line with inflation.

“The Petersfield School has 1313 pupils according to the government’s school census, and the amount that would be lost per child would be £358.

“The equivalent number of teachers that would be lost is based on the average teacher salary at The Petersfield School, or £37,250 if the figure is not published.”

The NUT also says that Petersfield Infant School would lose £65,500, the equivalent of one teachers, or a reduction in spending of £195 per pupil.

Meanwhile the union predicts that Herne Junior School could lose £65,000, the equivalent of one teacher, or £135 per pupil.

Sheet Primary School is listed to lose £56,600, or one teacher, or £505 per pupil.

For more information about the NUT figures and how they reached them visit the union website, www.teachers.org.uk, and follow the ‘School Cuts’ link.