The head of a Waveney school has blamed dwindling funding levels for feared staff cuts. Staff at Sir John Leman High School, Beccles, have been sent letters by Jeremy Rowe outlining draft propo-sals to make redundant the equivalent of up to 3.

The head of a Waveney school has blamed dwindling funding levels for feared staff cuts.

Staff at Sir John Leman High School, Beccles, have been sent letters by Jeremy Rowe outlining draft propo-sals to make redundant the equivalent of up to 3.4 full-time teaching staff and seven support staff from September 1.

Last night, Mr Rowe said he was not alone in taking tough decisions and said the 'good times had come to an end for school funding'.

In his letter, the head said: 'The reason for this proposal is the need to reorganise the school's staffing structure in response to fluctuating pupil numbers projected over the next five years. It is anticipated that a rationalisation of the way the curric-ulum is delivered, managed and supported at this stage will secure the future stability of the school's finances and long-term viability.'

He warns that, if the situation cannot be alleviated by normal staff movements or other means, the governing body have to go ahead with the proposal to dismiss up to 3.4 members of teaching staff out of a total of 76.9 full-time-equivalent (FTE) posts and seven FTE support staff posts. Volunteers will be sought for redundancy, adds Mr Rowe.

A summary of the 2010/2011 budget has also been sent to staff and shows a predicted shortfall of nearly �346,000. The school expects to receive income of �5,941,895 from education authority funding and grants; but spending, including teachers' pay, premises costs, exam fees and other services, is expected to be �6,287,841.

Mr Rowe said: 'I wish we were alone, but many local schools are going through the same process. This is a national issue. Schools are either facing it or hoping it goes away. We have decided to face this decisively and make alterations now.'

He added: 'The good times have come to an end for school funding; the whole of the public sector is about to be hit very hard financially.'

Keith Anderson, of teaching union NASUWT, said: 'We want to work with the school to try to mitigate these redundancies.'