PROTESTS took place at 350 schools across England today against cuts which are devastating the country’s state education system.

Banners against cuts were raised at the schools simultaneously by head teachers, teachers, governors and parents.

Save Our Schools (SOS) campaigners said that despite government promises to increase spending, schools are still shedding staff and reducing the number of subjects taught.

One head teacher in Carlisle in Cumbria told the Morning Star how he had spent his half-term holiday doing gardening and maintenance work at his school because there is no cash to employ anyone to do the work.

Clem Coady, head teacher at Stoneraise Primary School in Carlisle, said: “I have had to be caretaker, gardener, minibus driver and supply teacher.

“This week I have been cutting hedges and pruning shrubs and trees to stop children getting poked in the eyes.”

He said he also had to act as the school’s minibus driver and stand in for teachers because of staff shortages.

Sue McMahon, former teacher and now a campaigner against education cuts in West Yorkshire, said: “I have been to schools where the head was on the roof repairing a skylight because they can’t pay for anyone else to do it.

“The school nurses have gone because of cuts, so heads and teachers are having to check children if there’s a measles outbreak. It is heartrending.”

She said the education cuts were compounded by other local authority service cuts hitting the country’s most deprived areas.

The protests were supported by the National Education Union (NEU) and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT).

NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said: “Today’s action by parents shows that they are not fooled by the government’s claims about school and college funding.

“Budgets are still at breaking point. 16,523 schools will have cuts in April 2020 compared to 2015.

“For the schools in the lowest-funded areas there’s no respite from the cuts in this academic year.

“Over the past few years children and their families have seen class sizes soar, teaching assistants laid off, subjects dropped, resources diminish and school buildings fall into disrepair.

“It will take a lot more than the government is currently offering to truly restore education after a lost decade of austerity.”

NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “Schools are losing support staff, dropping subjects, closing early and cutting corners on basic maintenance just to get by. Parents understand why this is the case.

“As we enter an election period, the NEU alongside our partners in the School Cuts Coalition will ensure that the public are in full possession of the facts on school cuts.

“We will continue to campaign to ensure every school and college has the funding and resources needed to give every child the education they deserve.”