AN academy is to lose 17 members of staff because of cuts in Government funding.

Westborough Primary School, Westcliff, is unable to renew the contracts of 17 members of staff because the school has lost out on £170,000 funding.

The contracts, which will end on August 31, are a mixture of teaching and support staff, many of whom work on a number of extra-curricular activities with pupils.

Headteacher Jenny Davies said the cuts would hit the children at a vulnerable point in their lives. She said: “It is quite dismal. I understand the national perspective, but these children will not be six, seven, eight or nine again and this could affect their education.”

The school, in Macdonald Avenue, had lost £202,589 from its next budget, which runs from September to September, but managed to claw back about £30,000.

Members of staff met with representatives from the Department for Education a fortnight ago and outlined the impact changes to funding will have.

Mrs Davies said a host of initiatives directly funded by the Labour government have now been ended.

She said: “We have not gone down the route of making redundancies at the moment, but we have had to decide not to renew short term contracts.”

Mrs Davies said the staff affected were on a year-long contract to help provide certain schemes, for example help provide regular outdoor learning sessions where classes are taken at the beach – this will now be scaled back – and after school clubs for karate, kickboxing and dancing have been stopped.

She said a behaviour improvement project at the school, which helped pupils with behaviour issues and aimed to keep them in class, will have to stop.

As part of the cuts the school’s capital budget, a portion of the total budget set aside for building maintenance, has been slashed from £31,839 to about £10,000, meaning the school could face real issues with keeping the building in a sound condition.

The school became an academy last September, giving direct access to Government money, which is otherwise shared out by Essex County Council and Southend Council.

But Mrs Davies said there were no regrets about the decision and some state schools in the borough are facing the same difficulties.

Mark Flewitt, Southend councillor responsible for children and learning, said: “I’m very sorry when I hear about any loss of jobs.

“Schools control their own budgets and this is a very unfortunate consequence of Government cuts and reductions.

“The council is always there is provide support and advice if needed.”