PARENTS are increasingly being asked to send regular payments to their children’s schools to prop up funds.

More schools in Oxfordshire are turning to families for financial help, claiming that government funding is not stretching far enough to counter rising costs.

A dip in reception numbers in the county this year has already seen some primary schools lose out on government cash, as core funding is allocated on a per-child basis.

Several state schools have issued appeals to parents this term, inviting them to make a voluntary contribution every week, month or year.

New Hinksey Primary School’s parent-teacher association sent a leaflet to parents last week warning of a ‘funding crisis’, listing ways of helping, including setting up a direct debit.

Ben Armstrong, chair of the Oxford school’s PTA, said: “The government is focusing on cost-saving with no long-term thought about how this impacts our kids.

“We want to see how we can club together as parents to bridge that gap.”

Though the Government claims it is investing an additional £1.3 billion in school funding, teachers say this is not in tune with the increasing cost of National Insurance, pension contributions and staff pay.

Father-of-two Mr Armstrong, who lives in South Oxford, works in fundraising and said he is concerned schools will ‘go to the wall’ if action is not taken.

He said some parents prefer making a donation if they do not have time to help in other ways, such as volunteering at fundraisers.

On Thursday New Hinksey pupils embraced a national challenge called Floss4Funding, which invited communities to do the ‘floss’ dance as a fun school funding protest.

Carswell Community Primary School in Abingdon also took part as well as Sunningwell Primary School nearby, which told parents in a newsletter last month that it too is ‘affected by funding cuts’.

Cholsey Primary School pupils put on a great dancing display as part of the same campaign on Friday, which was organised nationally by the parent-led Fair Funding for All Schools and Save Our Schools groups.

St Aloysius’ Catholic Primary School in North Oxford has also asked if any parents can afford a standing order to help cover building improvements, suggesting a sum of £10 per term.

A letter sent to parents this month stated: “When a major need arises there may be little time to find the costs, and other projects may have to be set aside.

“Making a regular donation will allow us to build a savings fund to call on immediately, whenever we need to undertake a building project in school.

“I understand that there are many demands on your finances, but any donation, no matter how small, would be welcome and will go towards improving the classrooms and playgrounds for our pupils.”

Madley Brook Primary School in Witney also mentioned financial struggles in a recent newsletter, encouraging eligible families to claim for free school meals so pupils can benefit from additional funding.

It stated: “If [uptake] is below 87 per cent we have money clawed back from our budget. School budgets are very tight at the moment and we are just about managing to break even.”

Heyford Park Free School near Bicester was also planning on asking parents and guardians for a regular donation.

In a newsletter sent at the end of September, it advised parents they would soon be asked for 'financial support on a monthly basis if at all possible'. 

Oxfordshire Governors’ Association’s chairwoman Carole Thomson said although costs vary from school to school, many in the county ‘are currently in deficit’.

She said: “Running cautious budgets and trying to live within your means means cutting back on certain things, most probably on the arts and trips.

“The problem with [asking for money] is that not all parents have the capacity to support schools - even in our leafiest communities there is always a pocket of deprivation.

“Parents are already expected to find money for uniforms and trips and other add-ons.

“Education is supposed to be provided free - schools shouldn’t have to be put into that position.”

Posting on the OGA’s website last week, Mrs Thomson said she was ‘appalled by the misinformation’ from politicians who claim there has been a 50 per cent increase in school funding since 2000.

She added: “I was a governor of a secondary school in dire financial straits at that time, even though what was asked of schools at the time bears absolutely no comparison to current expectations.

“Why the year 2000? I suspect the date was indeed picked very carefully.”

Last academic year schools including Wolvercote Primary School in Oxford, Lord Williams’s School in Thame and Langtree School near Wallingford also invited parents to set up direct debit payments.

In a post on the school’s website, Langtree’s then-headteacher Rick Holroyd - who is now head of King Alfred’s Academy in Wantage - said funding was ‘extremely tight’.

He wrote: “In spite of what politicians may claim, schools are simply being told to ‘do more with less’.

“We are sensitive to pressures on families in challenging financial circumstances, and respect that a contribution might not be possible for all.”

The Department for Education said the new funding formula will deliver an extra £10.5m to Oxfordshire schools, increasing funding by three per cent on average.