UP TO 10 teaching posts will be made redundant at a Newport school following a cut to their budget.

The chairman of governors at Bassaleg School said the cuts will also mean courses will have to be scrapped and class sizes will increase.

Newport City Council have said schools have had their budgets increased by 19 per cent over the last five years and that, following extensive consultation, an additional £1.1 million was added to the budget in February - taking the total for Newport’s schools to more than £90.29 million.

Newport Councillor David Williams, who is also the chairman of Bassaleg governors, said: “There will be between five to 10 voluntary redundancies.

“We are going to avoid any compulsory redundancies.

“As a result of the redundancies, there will be a restriction on the courses provided.

“The courses scrapped will depend on who comes forward for the voluntary redundancies, but there will definitely have to be a restriction on the courses we offer.”

Cllr Williams said that, after a voluntary redundancy, the posts have to be deleted.

He also said class sizes will go up to 30 pupils per class, with the current average being around 22 pupils.

“At the moment, we are a well-managed school with our budget,” he said.

“This is difficult and has been forced upon us – but our situation is not as bad as with other schools.

"I do not know how they are going to sort it out.

“Our school is not in deficit at the moment. At the moment, we have reserves of up to £400,000, but the school turnover is £6m for a year – so it doesn’t take long to spend that money.

“For this year, we have had about £300,000 cut from our budget.”

Newport City Council have said the reduction in Bassaleg’s funding is around £300,000, of which £164,000 is a direct grant reduction from Welsh Government post-16 funding.

Cllr Williams said: “We are likely to run into deficit while the voluntary redundancies are being worked out. These will go into effect in September 2017.

“If we were not to make these changes, we would have a £1m deficit within the next two years.

“Our main concern is the education of children.”

A spokeswoman for Newport council said the council had some “very difficult” decisions to make when faced with a budget shortfall of nearly £5.7 million in the next financial year.

She said: “Even though the money available to the council has been drastically cut over recent years, schools have had their budgets increased by 19 per cent over the last five years.

"Last year alone they were awarded a 4.5 per cent increase, the highest growth in Wales.

“Following extensive consultation, an additional £1.1 million was added to the budget in February, taking the total for Newport’s schools to more than £90.29 million.

"In a further boost for schools, cabinet this week allocated an extra £1.1 million to a dedicated renovation fund.

"Schools will be able to access this money to invest in their infrastructure over two years.

"All post-16 education in schools and further education establishments is funded by the Welsh Government not by local education authorities.

"Therefore the provision of courses in their sixth form is directly affected by this and not by council funding.

"However, the running of schools and their individual finances are ultimately the responsibility of the school governing bodies and the head teachers.

"Like all other council services, they have to manage their operations from within available resources."