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Head teachers desperately trying to balance the books due to Tory cuts are putting pupils on shorter weeks in a bid to save even more cash as the schools crisis ­deepens.

And they warn the drastic move could severely jeopardise the education of tens of thousands of children unless Theresa May ends her crippling austerity.

Many have been left with no choice but to bring in a 4.5-day week for kids as they cannot staff classrooms properly.

The measures come as a Mirror ­investigation found schools are so strapped for cash many special needs pupils are not getting support as heads have had to axe teaching assistants, leading to fears of behavioural problems.

That is coupled with a lack of basic ­equipment, growing class sizes, no cash to repair leaky buildings, staff shortages and cancelled school trips.

(Image: Twitter)

At least 24 schools across the land, including 14 in Birmingham alone, have ditched lessons on Friday afternoons. And more than 200 other heads have warned they are considering doing the same.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of ­Headteachers, said: “The idea that some schools have moved to a 4.5 day week and that others are considering the same option ought to be ringing serious alarm bells with the Government.

“School budgets are at breaking point. School leaders have made all the obvious savings, now they are faced with having to make major changes to the way they provide education.”

Kevin Courtney, joint general ­secretary of the National Education Union, added: “Unless this is addressed a dire situation will only get worse.

Children and young people deserve better than this bargain basement version of an education system.”

Sending pupils home at lunchtime on Fridays means heads can employ fewer assistants to provide cover for teachers who are out of the classroom doing vital preparation work for other lessons.

Many heads, with some begging parents to provide cash for basic ­equipment such as exercise books and pens, have told how their schools will start the new term in debt.

They expect the deficit to rise as their wage bills go up annually through statutory pay rises while income is static.

(Image: Getty)

Kate Baptiste, head of St Monica’s Catholic Primary School in Enfield, North London, blasted Tory claims that education would be protected.

She said it simply meant schools were given the “same amount as previous years”. Kate added: “This hasn’t changed with inflation.

“I used to spend 80% of my budget on salaries, now it is 92%. The ­knock-on effect is that we have fewer resources for the children. Our deficit is now £77,000. Within three years, by 2020, it will be £377,668.

“We have fewer teaching assistants who can listen to children read ­individually and give support to those who need it. The future is very bleak.

“There will be a drop in standards. We will not be able to nurture children in the same way. The repercussions will be dire. Austerity measures will cause us to keep reducing the staffing.”

Jules White, head of a secondary school in West Sussex, said: “There is a drip, drip, drip effect of these savage cuts. Class sizes continue to rise and there are significant cuts to curricular and extra-curricular opportunities.

“Schools like mine are having to use funds earmarked for the most ­disadvantaged families to prop up our beleaguered core budgets.

“The Government must do far more to support our education system if it truly wants to end the burning social injustices that Theresa May spoke of when she came in to office.”

Louise Regan, head at Hillocks Primary School in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts, added: “You only have a finite budget and by the time you have paid your salaries there just isn’t anything left.

There just isn’t enough money to help children with complex needs. They aren’t getting the same level of support that they did a few years ago. That will have the knock-on effect of an increase in exclusions.”

Despite Government claims it is spending more than ever on schools, in reality there has been an 8% cut in budgets since 2010, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The IFS said school funding would fall by nearly 3% between last year and 2021 even with the additional £1billion a year the Government is providing by slashing free school meals for infants.

It is feared 400 of the worst-hit state nursery schools for under-fives face closure within 18 months without an injection of new money.

A survey of school support staff by UNISON released yesterday found drastic cuts, restructuring and stress are becoming the norm in schools.

More than four in five workers said they have suffered stress due to their workload in the past five years, with one in five going sick.

Nearly three quarters revealed they were doing work they were not qualified for.

A Department for Education spokeswoman insisted "there is more money going into schools than ever before". The department claims school funding will rise to a record £43.5 billion by 2020 – 50% more in real terms per pupil than in 2000.

“Academic standards are rising in our schools, with 1.9 million more children in good or outstanding schools than in 2010," the spokeswoman said.‎ "In the same period, we have seen the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their more affluent peers reduce across all stages of education - 14% in the early years, 10% in primary, 10% in secondary.

“We recognise that we are asking schools to do more which is why the Education Secretary has set out his determination to work with the sector to bear down on cost pressures."

Roll of shame in PM’s patch

A school in the Prime Minister’s constituency asked parents to provide toilet roll to help it save cash.

St Edmund Campion Catholic Primary sent an Amazon wish list link to 17 items, also including pens and A3 paper.

Elsewhere, school staff have reported bringing in paper aeroplanes and balls for breaktime as kids have nothing to play with.

In Hitchin, Herts, Parents Against School Cuts Campaign collected toilet rolls to pass on to schools. And Robert Piggott C of E primary in Wargrave, Berks, asked for a £1 a day voluntary contribution for stationery.

Early cut saved teacher’s £35k

Head teacher Michelle Gay says a shorter week was the only way to save £35,000 – the equivalent of a teacher’s salary.

Mrs Gay, who runs Osborne Primary School in Birmingham, said having a half day on Fridays was due to shrinking budgets and rising costs.

She said: “We would never ever have thought about it apart from the funding issue.

“If we hadn’t have done that then we would have run a deficit budget this year.”

Mrs Gay, who has met Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner, added: “We can make small savings; if I reduce the swimming it’s £1,500 or music it’s £2,000 but £3,000 is peanuts when talking about a teacher or teaching assistant.”

The school has had to spend less on basics like paper, while football is banned because a dangerous surface cannot be replaced. Swimming and music lessons have been cut.

Cash ‘just recycled from other budget areas’

The new national funding formula introduced in April was supposed iron out discrepancies between regions.

Justine Greening, then Education Secretary, said schools would get an increase of 0.5% per pupil from this school year and a 1% increase from 2019-20.

She said cash would go directly to schools rather than local authorities and minimum funding levels of £4,800 per pupil at secondaries would boost schools that are currently underfunded.

But heads said money was just being recycled from other parts of the education budget. Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said: “For many pupils and schools, funding will fall in real terms between now and 2020.

“There is no new money for education and this funding for schools is coming from other cuts to education budgets.”