FUNDING changes will cost two expanding Oxford schools more than £200,000 by 2019, a headteacher has warned.

Jon Gray said Cutteslowe and Wolvercote primary schools faced having to cut teaching posts and take fewer reception age pupils each year because of Government cash squeezes.

They are set to be hit by the 'double whammy' of both rising costs and lower funding over the next three years as a new national formula is rolled out.

School staff this week held discussions with Nicola Blackwood, Conservative MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, about what can be done to avoid a budget deficit in the next school year.

Mr Gray, executive head for both schools, said: "This is going to affect children's education – we can't see a way around it.

"Everyone needs to realise that schools cannot carry on like this anymore."

During her visit on Thursday to Wolvercote Primary School, Ms Blackwood joined calls for the Government's new schools funding formula to be reviewed.

The junior health minister said she had written to Schools Minister Nick Gibb to express concern about the impact it would have on schools in Oxfordshire, saying some would be left 'disadvantaged'.

Vowing to lobby ministers on their behalf, she added: "I have long campaigned for a fairer funding formula because Oxfordshire has had some of the lowest funding for schools in the country.

"I had a very constructive meeting with Wolvercote Primary School's governors and I have taken away several points I will be raising with ministers.

"I am determined to get the right funding for children in Oxfordshire."

A briefing paper presented to Ms Blackwood by Mr Gray and school governors says Cutteslowe Primary School and Wolvercote Primary School – both run by the River Learning Trust – face budget reductions of £90,000 and £120,000 respectively by 2019.

It warns this is down to 'costs and budget cuts that seem to be happening at an increased pace', such as inflation, the introduction of the Government's apprenticeship levy, teacher salary increases, pension costs, National Insurance and support for vulnerable children.

The schools also say the cutting back of so-called 'early intervention' services by other public bodies facing cash squeezes – such as the NHS and Oxfordshire County Council – means its own bills are going up.

An educational psychologist service, once provided by the county council, now costs them £550 per day, for instance.

Mr Gray wrote: "I am certain these challenges will be echoed throughout our constituency."

The schools are also expanding but under existing rules they are only entitled to an amount of funding based on how many pupils they had in the previous year, meaning their predicament is 'heightened'.

Governors in Wolvercote have been told this means the current reception intake of 45 pupils per year, taught by two teachers, is 'no longer financially viable'.

The Department for Education yesterday said that funding for Oxfordshire schools would go up overall – by £4.6m – under the new funding formula.

A spokeswoman added: "The Government has protected the core schools budget in real terms since 2010, with school funding at its highest level on record at more than £40bn in 2016/17.

"But the system for distributing funding across the country is unfair, opaque and outdated. "We are going to end the historic post code lottery in school funding and under the proposed national schools funding formula, more than half of England’s schools will receive a cash boost."

The two Oxford schools must produce draft budgets by May 28.