A DISTRICT education union chief is calling for urgent investment after it was revealed schools were having to raise income from sources such as charity grants to fund classroom materials and staffing.

A recent survey by school leaders' trade union NAHT found that 95 per cent of members said they had to resort to such measures.

Only one per cent of respondents said they currently received enough funding to fully meet the needs of all their pupils.

The poll involved more than 1,000 school leaders.

Over half of the union’s members who took part in the survey were concerned they would have to cut the number of teachers or teaching hours over the next three years – on top of 43 per cent who said they had already had to do so over the last three years.

Seven in ten said they had needed to generate additional income beyond their core school funding to fund play equipment and extra-curricular activities.

Tom Bright, Bradford district branch secretary of the National Education Union, warns that the situation "is only going to get worse".

He adds: "As a nation we are reducing the percentage of GDP that we are putting into education. The actual pounds per pupil are going down.

"That leaves schools with a clear dilemma, how do you fund that gap?

"You can understand the frustrations that headteachers must have and we absolutely sympathise with them.

"There just isn’t enough money being invested in education. Government is so desperate to find the last penny in anything and everything."

He adds: “The 'contract' with the parents is that any school will provide a qualified teacher in the classroom for their child.

“But we are seeing the undermining of that when a teacher is unavailable for whatever reason; they are being replaced by people who are not qualified teachers.

“It is another way of reducing the costs, which schools are having to do. They are being forced to do that due to school funding. It desperately needs a massive investment.”

The Department for Education has insisted that the Government is “increasing school funding to £60.7 billion next year, the highest level ever in real terms per pupil".

A spokesperson added: “Every school will receive a per pupil increase in funding, and the national funding formula makes sure that the money is distributed fairly based on the needs of each school and their pupils.”