CAMPAIGNING head teachers from Essex defended taking a day away from their schools to fight for more funding.

Alan Garnett, head teacher at North Primary School in Colchester, Clare French, head teacher at the town's Kendall Primary and Carl Wakefield from Plume Academy in Maldon were among 2,000 heads who delivered a letter to chancellor Philip Hammond at Downing Street.

Mrs French said: "The reason we did this was because schools, including Kendall, are struggling to cope with the eight per cent funding gap that the Government has imposed on schools.

"At Kendall this has meant that as support staff have left I have had to make the difficult decision not to replace them and this will continue if we are to avoid setting a deficit budget.

"This is not what any head would wish to do, as ultimately it will impact on pupil provision, but the reality is that the money just isn't there.

"Hopefully our pleas will not fall on deaf ears and this Government will find the money to properly fund our children’s education."

Mr Wakefield said: “I am rarely away from my academy so it was only after a great deal of deliberation that I decided to attend Friday’s march in London.

“The bottom line is that our students, who ultimately I am responsible for securing as successful an educational experience as possible, only get one chance at doing so.

“Since 2014, as an academy, we are a staggering £700,000 worse off, but during this same time period, the demands on schools have rocketed due to a massive shrinkage in front line services such as mental health specialist support, social care, local authority input and an ongoing reduction in frontline policing."

The march was in support of the campaign group Worth Less? which believes schools in England are “fundamentally hamstrung” by a lack of funding and a “chronic” shortage of teachers and support staff.

Figures from the Department of Education also show that for the 2018/19 financial year, Essex County Council will spend £174 less per pupil than in 2014/15, when figures adjust for inflation.

A Department of Education spokesman said: "There is more money going into schools than ever before, rising to a record £43.5 billion by 2020 - 50 per cent more in real terms per pupil than in 2000."