SIR - In a bizarre irony, a new report has revealed that schools with the highest number of poor pupils will suffer the most severe cuts to their budgets.

A study produced by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has used Government data to show primary and secondary schools in England with more than 40 per cent of pupils in receipt of free school meals will lose more in funding than the average school - £140 more per primary pupil and £326 more per secondary pupil than the average.

These losses are explained by real-terms cuts to the schools budgets following the Conservatives’ decision to protect spending only in cash terms.

David Hornsby, West View Avenue, Wrose