HEAD TEACHERS from Sussex schools marched on Downing Street to deliver a protest letter to the chancellor calling for the reversal of planned schools funding cuts.

The letter, delivered to Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday morning, warned of schools increasingly having to make “desperate requests to parents for ‘voluntary’ donations”.

The heads are calling for the £1.7 billion that will be removed from school budgets during the financial period 2015/20 to be reinstated.

Joined by Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, and Lloyd Russell-Moyle, MP for Brighton Kemptown, head teachers Richard Bradford from Dorothy Stringer School and Adrian Carver from Downs View School represented Brighton and Hove for the Worth Less campaign.

In a joint statement Mr Bradford and Mr Carver said: “The number of people on this march demonstrates the collective frustration on the part of head teachers from across the country with 25 counties represented, from Cumbria to Brighton to Cornwall.

“There is not enough funding for education and funding is not fit for purpose. We hope they listen to the message from schools.”

Campaigners have highlighted the disparity of funding for schools in different areas of the county, with those in some areas receiving 60 per cent less than similarly sized ones elsewhere.

Ms Lucas said: “The planned cuts could have devastating consequences on our schools, and the prospect of losing 37 teachers in Brighton Pavilion alone underlines just how damaging these changes will be for our city.

“School budgets are set to drop in real terms and we’re seeing teachers struggling at the sharp end of short-sighted decision making by the Government.”

The protest, ahead of next week’s Budget announcement, has been organised by regional groups of head teachers representing schools with 3.5 million pupils in 30 local authorities around the country.

It follows a letter sent in September to parents of 2.5 million pupils, warning of funding shortages, co-ordinated by Jules White, head of Tanbridge House School, in Horsham.

Heads are warning the chancellor they will not be able to afford to recruit teachers, class sizes will rise, subjects will have to be withdrawn, sixth forms could close and special needs pupils will not get the support they need.

The Government has promised to move £1.3 billion from the Department for Education’s budget directly into school spending.

But heads who signed the letter say they will still have seen real-terms cut of £1.7 billion between 2015 and 2020.