Headteachers across Kingston and Richmond have written to Prime Minister Teresa May claiming schools are embroiled in a recruitment and funding “crisis”.

In a strongly worded letter sent on behalf of all headteachers in the two boroughs, Richard Challoner’s Sean Maher called on the Government to boost school funding before it is “too late”.

He blames unfunded pay rises, cuts to grants and a reduction in agency support for the pressures facing schools

The letter was sent to Downing Street, the two borough’s MPs and Education Minister Justine Greening this week.

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It said: “No school, no teacher and no school leader wants to let their children fail.

“However, the situation faced by schools means that we will soon be at the point where leaders are forced to make drastic decisions that will significantly impact on young people’s lives and education.

“We are all passionate about children and their future but we are all utterly despondent and dismayed about finance and teacher recruitment.”

In the letter, Mr Maher cites numerous challenges for headteachers in Kingston and Richmond compared to the rest of the country.

He claims the high cost of living, lack of affordable housing and relatively lower pay in outer London makes the borough “unattractive” to teachers.

Kingston and Richmond are also two of the lowest funded boroughs in the capital while the school age population is growing quicker than the national average.

Mr Maher told this website last month that he believed schools were at a “tipping point” due to “stealth cuts” made by the Government.

He said: “We just can’t continue to do our job on a string budget. What there have been is a series of stealth cuts.

“There are no more efficiencies to make, the next thing is cutting teachers. If something is not done or if there are future stealth cuts then I feel schools will implode.”

Education secretary Justine Greening announced in Parliament today a new ‘fairer funding formula’, which will see more than 10,000 schools granted additional funding.

The funding will not be introduced until 2018.

Ms Greening told MPs: “The system by which school and high needs funding is distributed now needs to be reformed.

“Our school funding system as it exists today is unfair, it’s opaque and it’s outdated.”