A school governor went straight to the top when he realised jobs would have to be axed at a school facing financial crisis.

Reverend Gary Barrett decided the best way for the school to recoup its losses from a poor Government grant was to send the bill directly to the Secretary of State for Education, Charles Clarke.

But despite emailing the invoice of around £52,000 several weeks ago Mr Barrett, chairman of governors at Pevensey and Westham School, High Street, Pevensey, has yet to receive a cheque through the letterbox.

He said: "I decided to write to him to tell him that East Sussex could not afford to meet that shortfall. I haven't heard anything yet though."

money earmarked to buy new furniture for the school, which is undergoing major building work, will have to be re-channelled to keep the school above water as it faces a deficit of £44,000.

Mr Barrett said one member of staff had been told their contract would not be renewed at the end of the academic year because the school could not afford to keep them on.

Governors and school bosses are negotiating with classroom assistants to cut their working hours in a bid to save money.

Mr Barrett said: "The classroom assistants will obviously suffer because they will be earning less but the ones who suffer the most are the children because they lose the help of the classroom assistants."

The school currently has 360 pupils, but this figure is expected to rise to around 420, when building work is finished next year.

The crisis in funding came about after the East Sussex County Council Local Education Authority (LEA) received a poor settlement from the Government.

Mr Barrett said: "We have no problem with East Sussex County Council. It is trying to spend more on education than the Government gives.

"The Government is sending more money up North. We don't begrudge that but it is robbing Peter to pay Paul."

He said the school's special educational needs budget could suffer and in-house training for teachers would also be affected.

Training courses outside school would also have to be ruled out.

Mr Barrett said: "It is with great reluctance that we have had to make this decision. Many people might not understand it, especially as council taxes have risen in the region of 20 per cent this year, but it reflects the poor funding settlement made by the Government.

"We have made strenuous efforts to avoid this serious situation and have been in contact with the Secretary of State who appears to have little concern for our predicament."