BUCKINGHAMSHIRE schools will get about six per cent extra to spend next year, which will be a bigger percentage increase than other areas of the county council spending.

And the county's upper schools can hope to pick up a proportionally larger increase, because they are the ones with the biggest problems.

Twelve of the county's 21 upper schools are overspending their budgets this year, compared to three grammar schools.

Concern about this led to a meeting of the heads and chairmen of governors of upper schools with Marion Clayton, the county council's cabinet member for schools, and council leader David Shakespeare at the Misbourne School in Great Missenden.

Afterwards Cllr Shakespeare said the upper schools were under the most financial pressure. A considerable amount of money had already been targeted at them but he and Cllr Clayton accepted everything they had been told.

He said: "They said they are having trouble recruiting and need help to improve the quality of the classrooms, so they need more capital. We said we would go away and look at it and see if we can give them priority."

Cllr Shakespeare said he would expect all schools to get some of the extra cash but it was clear the upper schools needed it most.

At the meeting was Katy Simmons, chairman of governors at Cressex School in High Wycombe, who said upper schools had a total overspend of £1 million, while grammar schools were £1 million in the black.

She said: "We were absolutely united in our concern about inequalities and unfairness and the future of upper schools. Some upper schools had serious weaknesses or were put in special measures by Ofsted.

"If councillors don't want that to continue, they have to raise the esteem of upper schools in the public perception"