SCHOOL leaders have warned rising costs and underfunding will likely lead to redundancies which will have a direct impact on children’s learning.

NAHT Cymru, the school leaders’ union, has published its findings after surveying more than 670 school leaders from across Wales.

Almost three quarters of respondents (73 per cent) said they would have to make teaching assistants redundant or cut their hours, while 61 per cent said they were looking to reduce the number of teachers or teaching hours.

Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, has warned education in Wales “is truly in a perilous state”.

“Schools are being hit by a perfect storm of costs,” he said. “In attempting to balance their budgets, school leaders are being faced with eye-watering energy bills, spiralling costs to resources and supplies, and the financial impact of an unfunded pay increase this year.

“With no fat left to cut following a decade of austerity, many thousands of schools are now looking at falling into deficit unless they make swingeing cuts.”

NAHT Cymru found 38 per cent of schools said they will go into deficit this year unless they make immediate cuts, while just five per cent said they would be able to pay their costs for the 2023-24 academic year.

The cuts being considered include a reduction of non-educational support services – including counselling, therapy and mental health support – which almost half of schools (48 per cent) said they would be forced to reduce.

And more than half – 56 per cent – said they would have to reduce spending on support for pupils with additional learning needs.

Mr Whiteman warned that any further cuts would have a real and immediate impact on children’s learning.

“After a decade of austerity, schools have made all the easy savings already,” he said. “The only things left to cut are things that will have a real immediate impact on children – and especially those who are already the most disadvantaged and vulnerable.

“This goes against everything school leaders strive for, and the anger and desperation I am hearing from my members is unprecedented.

“Schools are finding that they have no option but to make redundancies. A reduction in teaching assistants and teachers will be catastrophic, leading to larger class sizes and less support for children with the greatest needs. This cannot be allowed to happen.

“Schools will no longer be able to afford those crucial services that are there to support pupils – things that children rely on not just for education but for their health and wellbeing.

“And it’s that extra help for families – especially those hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis – that schools can no longer afford – things like food for breakfast and help with clothing and laundry.

“The responses to this survey represent a significant proportion of the education profession – leaders out there in schools, on the front line, who are seeing the true desperation of the situation at hand.

“They do not raise the alarm lightly – when they speak, the government must listen.

“We must see urgent action on education spending ahead of the next budget update.”