Addingham Primary School has been left in financial crisis after local and national education funding changes.

Governors at the school have asked village leaders for help in avoiding the consequences of a funding shortage of nearly £40,000 from September this year.

Already the school, the education authority and the unions have been in talks to discuss getting rid of one teacher at the popular, high-achieving school.

Chairman Gordon Campbell told Addingham Parish Council: "There is a financial crisis at the school. We have had a letter from the governors saying we have a reduction in the funding and they are asking if we can do anything to help them."

District councillor David Harrison said he had passed on a similar letter to Dale Smith, the Conservative head of education at City Hall to see what could be done.

Addingham parish councillor Danny Palmer said he had attended a meeting with school governors about the crisis.

He said: "At the moment class sizes are virtually ideal. If there is a problem with reducing staff the class sizes will increase. The annoying thing is that Addingham is one of the highest achieving schools."

Parish councillor Alan Jerome said: "The only way that deficit can possibly be made up is by a reduction in staff - there is no other way to reduce costs. It has to be staff, which is a disgrace.

"Class sizes will be 30 to 35 - which is absolutely absurd in this day and age.

"We must do everything we can to support the head teacher. There is no point having a flagship school which can't provide the standard of teaching a flagship school deserves."

After the meeting between the school's staffing committee and union officials, National Union of Teachers representative Ian Murch told the Gazette that unless the financial shortfall could be made up between now and September, one of the teachers at the school would be lost.

Mr Murch said: "The governors are trying to get more money out of the council but they have had to start a formal process of consultation with unions. We have agreed they will have to lose a teacher."

With part-time and full-time staff, the school at present employs the equivalent of 13 full-time teachers.

Mr Murch said: "There is a process to see if anyone is willing to leave the school retire or re-deploy to another school. If that fails they will select somebody."

School head teacher Jane Drake said the budget shortfall would be around £38,000 because of a change in the way funding was allocated from central Government and by Education Bradford, City Hall's private partner in running the local education system.

The withdrawal of a Government grant to keep down the size of infant classes has hit the school hard but the large shortfall has been compounded by local budget changes, affecting schools which have a complicated one-and-a-half form entry each year of around 45 pupils.

Mrs Drake said that the officials from Bradford Council and Education Bradford had been to the school to look at possible ways to solve the problem.

Mrs Drake said: "We are still waiting to see whether they have a solution.

"There is hope still - there is always hope. At the same time we are trying to find ways around it. We may have to lose a teacher. It would affect the school - it always affects the school.

"We can't lose a teacher and not feel the effect of it. We don't know whether we are going to get help at this time."

A spokesman for Education Bradford said: "We are working with the school to find a way to move forward which will enable the school to balance its books within a short period of time without impairing the ability of the school to continue to raise standards."