HEAD teachers traditionally keep a lower profile than unions which represent rank-and-file teachers, so the fact that the National Association of Head Teachers is warning so strongly of what it describes as a funding crisis in schools both locally and nationally seems very significant.

The NAHT held a conference in Bradford yesterday in which it claimed there will be a £38 million shortfall faced by the district's schools by 2020 - the end of this Government's term in office.

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It pointed out that while the Department for Education's stock response is that a record amount of cash is being ploughed into the country's schools, major changes including rising pensions and National Insurance contributions, a reduction in the Educational Services Grant and the soon-to-be introduced apprenticeship levy will squeeze school budgets to breaking point.

And, the net cost, the NAHT warns, will be the loss of more than 1,000 teachers.

There's fantastic work being done on a daily basis in the district's schools and evidence of some of the very best can be seen in the supplement we are publishing today of those shortlisted for this year's T&A's Bradford & District Schools Awards.

But the district's schools are also under enormous pressure to improve standards and they need to attract more of the very best teachers to do so.

The Government must heed the warnings of school leaders to ensure that there is enough funding in the system to offset hidden costs to prevent any chance that their warnings do not become a reality and badly damage so much of the progress that has been made.