Councillors have claimed Greenwich schools are balancing their finances “on a knife edge”  as they push the government for more cash.

Some schools are so strapped for cash they have put no money aside for maintenance this year.

Councillors said at a meeting on Wednesday, March 27, that teachers are paying out for supplies themselves, with some schools seeing cuts of more than £700 per pupil since 2014.

Cabinet member for education, David Gardner, said the average spend on pupils has been cut while population numbers grow.

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“Our headteachers are brilliant but they’re not magicians”, he said. “It is reaching the situation where they have made efficiencies, reduced teaching assistants and support staff, but we still have the situation at James Wolfe School where they have put aside no money aside for routine maintenance. None for upgrading technology when it runs out.

“If we move to Rachel MacMillan nursery, you will see there that not only have they made the same cuts as James Wolfe but this year they have no maintenance either – that is obviously important when dealing with outdoor learn and play.”

A motion put forward by a band of councillors called on Greenwich to join MPs and other councils in pressuring the government for more funding.

Matt Hartley, the leader of the Conservative opposition, said school funding has actually increased – adding that more money doesn’t always mean better results.

He said as he put forward an alternative motion, which was rejected: “I appreciate what Cllr Gardner has said and I do understand the pressure of rising school numbers, but it’s not a cut.

“More money in real terms is going into schools than any time in history. There are financial pressures, that of course we agree. The secretary of state for education, Damien Hinds, has already been clear that he has heard the message on funding loud and clear.”

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Councillors said they were aware of teachers having to buy their own supplies as cash-strapped schools worry about how they will survive in coming years.

Cllr Linda Perks said: “I have just come from a trust board for a multi-academy trust operating in this borough – we spent time looking at the financial situation as we always do because it is on a knife edge as it is with every school in this borough and in this country.”

It comes following the Chancellor’s announcement in November for a £400m influx to help schools buy “extra bits of kit”.

The council agreed to push the government to “join other councils and Greenwich’s MPs in opposing the government’s ongoing cuts to school budgets and call for more funding to be invested in education.”