School starts £20k crowdfunding bid to help ease budget cuts

Bayton C of E Primary School is seeking £20,000 to supplement its finances

A Worcestershire school has started a crowdfunding campaign in a bid to raise £20,000.

Bayton C of E Primary School, near Kidderminster, says its main central budget has been "squeezed" and it is "supplementing finances".

It hopes to spend donations on general maintenance of the school buildings and new play equipment.

Its head teacher said pupils would also have a say on what the money could be spent on.

Jolanda Simmonds said it was a small rural school whose funding was being squeezed.

"We get less funding than others as funding is based per pupil and we have 94," she said.

"Up to 90% of the budget is spent on staffing costs, so 10% is used on everything else.

"Budgets are less and costs are still high."

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She said the school had no site manager, so painting and refurbishments had proved difficult.

Ms Simmonds added: "The children will have a say on what funding goes on. I'm optimistic we can reach the £20,000 target."

The school was rated "outstanding" in its most recent Ofsted inspection.

The JustGiving crowdfunding page was started on Friday and the first fundraising event will be an exercise bike challenge next month.

Worcestershire County Council, which allocates school funding, said "significant financial pressures" within education was a national issue and it allocated money based on a number of factors.

The council said in its proposed budget for 2019/20 it had included £13.7m to build, extend and maintain schools across the county.