A VALLEYS headteacher said the funding gap in education between England and Wales needs to be addressed.

Headteacher at Waunllwyd Primary School, Graham Worgan, said needs should be looked at by each individual authority but there should not be such a gap.

As reported in yesterday's Argus, Headteachers across Gwent expressed their anger about new figures which showed Welsh schoolchildren have £604 less spent on them than those in England - £5,595 in 2009/10 compared to £6,200.

The cash is spent from nursery to secondary level and includes special schools and pupil referral units.

Mr Worgan said: "Schools always have costs to meet and the more money we can have for resources the better. We've got different authorities with different needs - the gap between England and Wales is too big."

He did welcome the fact Blaenau Gwent spends the second highest amount per pupil in Wales, behind only Ceredigion, with £6,231 per pupil - 11 percent above the Welsh average of £5,595.

Torfaen spends the least with £5,357 - 4.3 percent below the average, Caerphilly spends £5,667, 1.3 percent above average and Newport £5,430, three percent under the average.

£2.5 billion was spent on education in Wales in 2009/10, compared to £1.4 billion in 1999/00.

In Wales, 75 percent of the total gross schools budgeted expenditure is delegated to schools, with local authorities holding the rest, compared to 90 percent in England.

An Assembly spokeswoman said councils have agreed to increase the amount spent in schools from 75 percent to 80 percent within two years and 85 percent inside four years.