FAIR DEAL FOR OUR SCHOOLS: THE Government gives to schools with one hand and takes away with the other. That is the verdict of headteachers who are battling to bring Swindon's schools up to scratch with a fraction of the cash afforded to most towns and cities.

Today, the Evening Advertiser can reveal that five secondary schools and their feeder primaries will share in up to £1 million extra funding a year for the next three years through a government scheme known as Excellence in Cities.

But at the same time, pupils at Wroughton Infant School are being forced to use an outside toilet and take lessons in 'temporary' classrooms that were built in the 1960s, as Swindon Council admits it is facing a backlog of school repairs totalling £21.5 million.

Heads have praised the council for pumping a total of £98 million into the education budget for the forthcoming year an increase of £5.8 million compared with last year but more than £4 million of that has been swallowed up by increased national insurance and pensions costs.

So despite the extra cash, schools face the very real threat of having to make staff redundant because the money to pay them is not there.

The exact number of teachers to be laid off has not yet been set but at least one compulsory redundancy is expected to be made.

A total of 11 redundancy notices have been issued, but schools are likely to revise that figure once their budgets are finalised in time for the start of the school year in September.

The headteachers see redundancies as a last resort and have made cuts in other areas, such as teaching assistant hours.

The £21.5 million backlog in school building repairs includes the £12 million cost of demolishing all of the mobile classrooms in the town and replacing them with permanent buildings.

Much of the backlog was inherited from Wiltshire County Council when Swindon took control of education in 1997.

There have been some successes in getting building work completed.

In November 2002 Lethbridge School in Old Town opened a £2 million extension that linked the infant and junior schools after 40 years of using mobile classrooms.

And in September last year pupils the Chalet School moved into a £1.3 million new building on the site of Liden Primary School.

Hreod Parkway School in Moredon is due to be rebuilt as part of a £70 million Private Finance Initiative deal. The PFI agreement involves the building of three new primary schools, a special school and two new secondaries, including Hreod, using private cash that will be paid back by the council, but this will not happen for two or three years

Julia Drown, the MP for South Swindon, said that huge strides have been made in cutting the backlog in building repairs during the past three years but years of Conservative underfunding had put a strain on the council.

She said: "The situation is hugely different now. We spent as much on school buildings in three years as the Tories did in seven.

"Lethbridge School has the work it has been waiting 30 years for and the Chalet School has been rebuilt. You can see the difference it is making."

Last month Education Secretary Charles Clarke caused disbelief among heads when he said they could use their capital funding, which is the money used to finance building repairs, to top up their budget and avoid teacher redundancies.

Lead member for education Coun Garry Perkins (Con, Shaw and Nine Elms), said: "The backlog of building repairs was so great from the start that it's been difficult making inroads with our limited budget, but we are trying.

"The Labour government seems to be like Swindon Council's Labour group in its refusal to accept responsibility and blaming the Tories.

"It is time for everyone to accept responsibility and help get a solution sorted."

The MP for North Swindon, Michael Wills, said that extra funding for some schools through the Excellence in Cities project did not mean that other schools were losing out.

He said: "Headteachers should be aware this is by no means the end of the funding for Swindon.

"This funding is targeted at schools that fit the criteria, but like the parable of the vineyard just because one person is getting more does not mean that others are getting less."