SCHOOLS in Southend are increasing pupil numbers to “balance the books” because of a “decade of austerity”, a leading headteacher says.

Dr Robin Bevan, head of Southend High School for Boys, spoke after official figures showed Westcliff High School for Girls, Southend High School for Boys and St Thomas More High School all have more children attending than their official number of places.

Unions have warned that schools being over capacity can affect students’ learning - but schools say it is a result of government under-funding.

Westcliff High School for Girls was the busiest school, with 1,224 school places but 1,300 children on its roll, making it over capacity by six per cent.

Southend High School for Boys had 1,316 students for1,260 places, and St Thomas More High School had 1,176 pupils for 1,170 places.

Dr Bevan, a past president of the National Education Union, said: “In the last ten years, the value of Government funding for schools has been severely reduced.

“Schools are financed with a set amount of money per pupil. So many schools have responded through the decade of austerity by increasing pupil numbers to ‘balance the books’.”

In response to the figures at St Thomas More, in Prittlewell Chase, Westcliff. a Southend Council spokesman said: “We have worked closely with a number of schools as part of a school expansion programme, launched in 2018, to increase capacity levels to meet the increasing population within the city, similar to the national trend.

“St Thomas More was included within that project.”

Des Hart, spokesman the National Education Union, said children’s health and education could be affected by their schools being over capacity.

He said: “Not only is it a hotbed for coronavirus transmission, but if you have lots of kids crammed into a small space it makes the learning environment not conducive to good learning.

“Fundamentally more investment is needed in schools and staff.

“We’re finding lots of younger people in the profession are getting burned out, if you’ve got more than 30 people to teach, mark, assess and plan for it’s a lot harder work.”