Parents, teachers and educators came together in East Finchley last night to discuss school budget cuts across the borough and the impending redundancies.

The public meeting, hosted by Fair Funding for All Schools, was held at Martin Primary School to give residents and parents the chance to learn the effects of the Department of Education’s national funding formula on Barnet schools.

Panellists included Andrew Baisley of the National Union of Teachers and schoolcuts.org.uk, Barnet Labour Cllr Anne Hutton, Rob Kelsall of the National Association of Headteachers and Fair Funding for All Schools co-founders Jo Yurky and Matt Dykes.

Mr Baisley presented statistics collated by schoolcuts.org.uk, which revealed that due to rising numbers of students and less resource from the government, schools will inevitably have to make teachers redundant.

He said: “The last time we spent only four percent on education was the 1950s, which is a historic low.

“When we think about the problems of the British economy, taking money out of education is the last thing out nation we should be doing.”

Cllr Anne Hutton spoke out about councillors’ attempts to raise these issues within the local authority, but motions have been voted down and received some criticism.

She said: “We did work out that eight per cent was the amount that Barnet schools were to lose and put a motion to council at the end of January, to challenge the government on that.

“But all they said was that we have got out figures wrong. We have heard this amount of money from various sources now so reality is starting to bite.”

Mr Kelsall described how the Department of Education have spent £2.5bn on acquiring land for free schools and the importance of headteachers and governers being open with parents about their concerns, calling on parents and students to “rise up and fight” for their schools.

Ms Yurky then went on to explain how their group, set up at the end of last year, are seeing parents rise up to challenge their MPs across the country.

She said: “When something is happening that we do not like we have two options: to do nothing or to do something.

"We have nothing to fear by speaking out but everything to lose if we do not.”