A Worcestershire school has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £20,000 in order to supplement its ‘squeezed’ budget.

Bayton C of E Primary School, near Kidderminster, will also hold a number of fundraising events to ‘provide additional income’.

The primary school, which has been rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, says it needs to raise the extra money ‘to continue to provide quality teaching, learning and resources for all our children.’

Cllr Marcus Hart, Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet member for education and skills, said that the financial pressures schools are under is a ‘national issue’.

An analysis by the National Education Union of the Schools Block funding allocations revealed earlier this month that a quarter of primary schools had not received more money.

A recent report from the Education Policy Institute also found that in 2017-18 8% of primary schools were in deficit.

‘Significant financial pressures within education is a national issue that the majority of local authorities, including Worcestershire, are continuing to experience,’ said Cllr Hart.

‘The county council has, for a number of years, been a key member of the F40 Group which represents the lowest funded local authorities.

‘Schools in Worcestershire are allocated a budget share based upon the Department for Education's National Funding Formula parameters.

‘Allocation of funding for schools will depend on a number of different criteria such as pupil numbers, deprivation statistics and low prior attainment levels.’

‘In the proposed budget for 2019/20, the council has included an investment of £13.7m to build, extend and maintain schools across the county.’