TAVISTOCK Community Primary School has been hit hard by austerity measures — and this year the school’s leaders have no choice but to look at ‘potential redundancies’ to balance its books.

The school of 420 pupils employs nearly 100 local people and has been a growing and thriving school for many years.

A few years ago the school felt the ‘pinch’ in its budget which meant headteacher Lynnette Selbie needed to save jobs by shaving unnecessary spend — but this year that was not enough.

Mrs Selbie said: ‘We have been cut to the bone.

‘Headteachers, governors and parents across Devon have been campaigning for fair funding for our schools for some time. We have made some progress but the new national funding formula introduced by the Government still means Devon schools are not funded as well as schools in other parts of the country.

‘Like other larger schools, this year we have had to look at potential redundancies to balance our books.

‘This is a decision that the governors and I have been forced to make after exhausting all other ways of saving money.’

A concerned parent called the Times and said that the whole situation was not fair on his children and other children who attend the school: ‘It’s not fair — it’s the biggest primary school in the community but they have been hit the hardest.

‘People have a right to know as it could affect children getting into their chosen schools.’

Mrs Selbie added: ‘This is a statutory process which we have only just begun and I can’t say yet how many staff members will be affected until it is complete.

‘I am doing everything I possibly can and the staff response has been understanding — but for now the details have to remain in-house.

‘But we will do our utmost to ensure we maintain the best quality of education possible for our children.’

Earlier this year the Government’s new national funding formula meant that an extra £7.5-million would be going to schools in Devon next year.

But this would still be £268 per pupil short of the national average.

Education chiefs have campaigned for fair funding for schools in Devon and said that there was a gap between schools in the county and schools in London.

Devon’s Cabinet member for schools Cllr James McInnes said: ‘We’ve campaigned hard with parents and schools to get fairer funding for Devon’s children.

‘This year there’ll be £7.5-million extra for Devon’s schools and more the year after. That’s on top of the extra £16-million a year we achieved in 2015.

‘But this still isn’t enough to bring Devon’s schools up to anywhere near the national average and — once again — our region loses out to the Home Counties so we make no apologies for continuing our campaign for fair funding with the Government.

‘There is no doubt that Devon schools are facing tough times financially.’