THE future of a Southampton school hangs in the balance as pressure on education reaches crisis point.

Head teacher of Vermont School Maria Smyth said cuts to her budget would be “devastating” if they were to go ahead.

While Southampton City Council has asked head teachers of the city’s seven special schools to be prepared for “significant savings”, a spokesperson for the Department of Education said funding per pupil is “the highest on record,” and has “doubled” between 1997 and 2016.

In a statement to the Daily Echo the DoE defended its funding and blamed the crisis on the city council.

A spokesman said: “The Department for Education has supported local authorities in managing high needs cost pressures by providing Southampton City Council with an extra £1.1 million of high needs funding this year and next year; providing the council with £104,000, a share of a £23 million strategic planning fund, so that they can undertake a thorough review of their special provision locally, with schools and parents, understand what is driving their cost pressures, and plan to manage those costs within the available resources in future.

“We are currently consulting on a high needs national funding formula that would see Southampton Council gaining around 8% in the longer term.”

But speaking to the Daily Echo, Ms Smith said that cuts already implemented have forced her to make staff redundant at the school of 32 children.

In September classes will be reduced from five to four, with one teacher and three teaching assistants already losing their jobs.

Further cuts would force her to reduce class sizes again to three, with the loss of another fifth of her staff, one teacher and two teaching assistants, in a school where individualised teaching programmes are essential for each pupil.

She said: “Vermont School is facing deep cuts inflicted by Southampton City Council – so deep as to jeopardise the school’s continued functioning. The city has already cut a massive £105,000 from Vermont’s budget. At Vermont all pupils have social, emotional and mental health difficulties with significant and complex needs and the combination of these cuts will have a devastating impact on their lives. Class sizes will increase, fewer adults means less support, resources will be cut and children’s opportunities to develop socially, emotionally and academically will be reduced.”

Southampton City Council was unavailable for comment.