SOME of Hampshire’s most vulnerable children could be denied school places and teachers could lose their jobs in the latest round of government cuts.

The heads of Southampton’s seven special schools have joined forces to oppose the Department for Education’s proposal to slash 11% off their combined budget of £28 million.

The seven facing the cuts are Great Oaks, The Cedar School, The Polygon School, The Compass School, Springwell School, Vermont School and Rosewood Free School.

In total, 552 children with special needs such as autism, down syndrome and attention deficit disorder attend the schools.

Andy Evans, the head teacher of Great Oaks, the largest of the seven with 184 pupils, has rallied the support of the other schools which he says will reach breaking point if funding is reduced.

The head teachers will write to Southampton City Council and the city’s MPs this week protesting at the planned cuts.

The city council has also established a “working party” to look at the issue.

It has yet to be announced exactly how each school’s budget will be affected but Mr Evans said that if Great Oaks’ budget was cut by 11% it would be £300,000 worse off – which would be the equivalent of a third of his staff of 30 teachers.

He added the cuts, if made, would mean the school would have to look at doubling class sizes, which would mean pupils’ extra needs would not be met, and some children with more challenging behaviour and care needs could be refused places.

Parents of pupils who were denied a place may have to send their children to private schools whose fees would have to be paid by the local authority, claimed Mr Evans.

After-school clubs and school trips could also fall victim to the proposed cuts, he added.

“We help our youngsters to learn how to be as independent as possible and contribute to the communities they live in and if we can’t do that it will end up costing the system more in the long run,” Mr Evans said.

He claimed the proposed funding reductions had “gone under the radar”.

“It is particularly worrying because it has not been suggested how these cuts are going to be introduced and this could happen as soon as April,” said Mr Evans.

“It is going to force us to make some really difficult decisions.

“In some of the schools the children are especially disabled and this will mean they will not be able to afford the specialised equipment they still need.

“It could potentially be quite traumatic. We have not had an increase in funding for the last ten years – we have had nothing to take inflation into account.

“The Government needs to recognise there are more people with special needs and our special needs schools have all grown bigger but there is no money to meet their needs and now there will be even less.

“It is really frustrating – these are the most vulnerable young people in Southampton with the greatest needs and they are the ones losing out.”

Jonathan Howells, Cedar School’s head teacher, said: “The Cedar School is a community special school that has always believed in collaborative partnership and at such challenging financial times presently, it is even more important that we remember this ethos, for the benefit of our young people and their families in the school.”

At the time of going to press, the Department of Education had not replied to the Echo’s request for a comment.