DESPERATE calls have been made for investment after it was revealed schools have been raising income from sources like charity grants to fund things like classroom materials and staffing.

A recent survey from trade union NAHT found that more than nine in ten school leaders (95 per cent) say they have had to do this.

Only one per cent of leaders said they currently received enough funding to fully meet the needs of all their pupils.

The poll, taken from more than 1,000 school leaders about funding pressures, also found more than half of school leaders (53 per cent) said they had needed to generate additional income beyond their core school funding to cover the costs of classroom materials.

Almost a quarter (24 per cent) had to do this to cover staffing costs.

Seven in 10 had needed to do so to fund play equipment (71 per cent) and extra-curricular activities, like school trips, and clubs (69 per cent), while 37 per cent had to raise funds to cover estate management and building repairs.  

"It is only going to get worse," said Tom Bright, Bradford branch secretary of the National Education Union (NEU).

"As a nation, we are reducing the percentage of GDP that we are putting into education. The actual pounds per pupil is going down. 

"It leaves schools with a clear dilemma, how do you fund that gap?"

Mr Bright added: "You can understand the frustrations the headteachers must have and we absolutely sympathise with them.

"There just isn't enough money being invested in education. They are so desperate to find the last penny in anything and everything."

More than half (55 per cent) of the union’s members who took part in the survey worry they will have to cut teachers or teaching hours over the next three years – on top of 43 per cent who say they have already had to do so over the last three years.

Mr Bright said: "The contract with the parents is that any school will provide a qualified teacher in the classroom for their child.

"But we are seeing the undermining of that when a teacher is unavailable for whatever reason, they are being replaced by people who are not qualified teachers.

"It is another way of reducing the costs which they are having to do. They are having to do that due to school funding. It desperately needs a massive investment."

The Department for Education insisted earlier this month that the Government is "increasing school funding to £60.7 billion next year, the highest level ever in real terms per pupil".

A spokesperson added: “Every school will receive a per-pupil increase in funding, and the national funding formula makes sure that funding is distributed fairly based on the needs of each school and their pupils."