PARENTS in west Wiltshire are worried that children's education will suffer because of a lack of funds.

Many schools have to tighten their belts to offset deficit budgets and some are being forced to cut teaching staff and increase class sizes to try and solve financial problems.

Grant Newton's son goes to St Laurence School in Bradford where five teachers are being made redundant in a bid to get the school out of debt.

He said: "I think most parents have sympathy with the school and don't blame them for having to make these changes. It seems a shame when headteachers are forced to become accountants and shuffle money around to try and find more funds, but we appreciate that this is something headteachers are having to do all over the country.

"It's a human reaction to feel a general queasiness when cuts are being made to things like health or education, it just doesn't seem right and it makes you wonder why you pay taxes."

The Clarendon School in Trowbridge has a deficit budget of £170,000 and headteacher Colin Kay could not rule out future redundancies.

One parent said: "I think it would be helpful if we were kept more informed. I do worry about class sizes, they are big enough already and they can't cope with any more."

Caroline Lincoln, whose two children go to The John of Gaunt School in Trowbridge, said: "I have complete faith in the governors and the head but it is worrying for the future in that I don't want bigger classes."

At Matravers School in Westbury some hard choices have already been made, with the school deciding to hire only one of the four extra staff it needs in order to tackle a deficit budget.

PTA member Lynn Wareing said: "The children will obviously suffer and so will the teachers. It is not the school's fault. The money will only go so far. Matravers will do all they can with the funds they have and it is very worrying that our teachers have to take that pressure."

The problem is not confined to schools in west Wiltshire. Edenham High School in Croydon was forced to send 720 of its 1,200 pupils home on Wednesday be-cause it could not afford to hire temporary staff to look after them.