EDUCATION bosses in Southend have been accused of "wasting" £100,000 they pumped into academies in the city.

In late 2019, Southend Council chose to invest £100,000 into Southchurch High, Cecil Jones Academy and Chase High School.

At the time, bosses claimed in a statement the funding was to improve the "schools that are not yet rated good or outstanding".

Since then, Southchurch High has been rated "inadequate", Chase High School has improved from "requires improvement" to "good", while Cecil Jones has not been inspected.

The council has come under fire for "wasting" the money on Southchurch High following a recent damning Ofsted report.

But council bosses insist the money was meant to boost take-up of school places, an aim they say has been achieved.

"It beggar's belief really, we have an academy that is failing, and we waste taxpayers' money on a propaganda campaign to get kids to apply, rather than improving classrooms and teaching" councillor Tony Cox, leader of the Conservative group, said.

Southchurch High headteacher Stuart Reynolds says the money was spent on building "links in the community" to encourage more parents to send their children to the school.

"We have 206 first choices for 168 places so we are significantly over subscribed," he said.

"Over the last few years, the school has become very popular with local parents."

Councillor Laurie Burton, responsible for children and learning, said: "I feel it is unfair and inaccurate for investment in school improvement and local schools to be described as a waste.

"Cecil Jones saw improvements to their library which has boosted reading levels, and Chase High School has seen its Ofsted rating upgraded to 'Good.' Southchurch received funding to encourage more local pupils to attend the school and it has been oversubscribed ever since.

"These specific projects should be considered as successful and worthy of our investment at the time.

"These schools are all run by academy trusts, and the council was not obliged to provide this funding, but we decided to be proactive in the support it provided to the schools that needed to improve, so they could carry out practical initiatives so that more Southend children have the opportunity to attend a good or outstanding school."