A headteacher has demanded to know why the Government has left pupils at a well-performing school in appalling conditions.

Frinton and Walton Town Council has also called on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to meet Caroline Haynes, principal at Tendring Technology College in Frinton, to explain why there is a "crippling lack of investment".

Ms Haynes claims Government policy has led to inner-city schools getting large amounts of cash while rural schools are left without.

She said pupils wore coats inside some classrooms because it was so cold, and water leaked through the ceiling of others.

"Our young people are coming to a school that is too small for them, and where class sizes are too big.

"It's not that I don't have the staff, it's that I don't have the room - the school is not big enough," she said.

"Even with the extra classrooms, the school will be short of two science laboratories and 4,000 sq ft of accommodation at the Frinton campus.

"I want the opportunity to talk to the Government about what impact some of their policies have on schools like ours.

"As a school, educationally, we have fantastic results, but we are impoverished and have terrible conditions."

Ms Haynes said while the 1,820-pupil school had too many pupils, Essex County Council was still demanding it took more.

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