HEADTEACHERS at four high schools in Northumberland have voiced major concerns over the long-term future of education in the county in the wake of severe budget cuts.
The heads in the Tyne Valley say that secondary schools in Northumberland, and particularly sixth forms, face “challenging times” in the years ahead as they bid to sustain academic standards.
The gloomy warning has come from the heads of Ponteland, Hexham, Prudhoe and Haydon Bridge high schools. The largest of the quartet, Queen Elizabeth High in Hexham, will have more than £500,000 less funding by 2014-15.
And Ponteland High School head Stephen Prandle said: “Proportionately, we are all suffering in the same way. I do have worries about the long-term future of Northumberland’s high schools.
“There is increased pressure on us and I am flagging up at an early stage that we have to be careful we don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
In February, Mr Prandle, Hexham head Neil Morrison, Prudhoe head Dr Iain Shaw and Haydon Bridge deputy head Barbara Mansfield met Education Secretary Michael Gove in Newcastle to discuss future aims. But they were given little prospect of a reversal in fortunes in the current economic climate.
