A march against cuts to Cumbrian schools has been called after hundreds flocked to two public meetings.

The headteacher of one of the county’s largest secondary schools has also revealed how he has had to find savings of £1.8m during his time in charge.

The March For Fair Funding For Schools will take place in Penrith on Saturday, May 6.

Families and campaigners across Cumbria, angered about the impact of frozen budgets and rising costs on the county’s 300-plus schools, are being urged to take part.

The march will start at 2pm outside the tourist information office in Penrith and proceed to the Cornmarket, where a number of local teachers and others will make speeches.

The rally was organised on Wednesday night after more than 150 people attended a two-hour meeting at the town’s Ullswater Community College.

Its headteacher, Nigel Pattinson, told the audience how his budget has gone from £8.05m in 2009, when he joined Ullswater, to £6.89m.

He described the changes schools facing financial pressures must consider, including scrapping courses and provision, axing jobs and increasing class sizes.

“I have also outlined a further £600,000 of savings,” he said. He estimated the total savings he has had to make between the start of his tenure and the introduction of a new national funding formula for schools as more than £1.8m.

“We always come back to the principle that drives this school and I ask how on Earth do we deliver equality for every child at this school?”

He added: “As a headteacher I can find efficiency savings. I have done that, but when it affects what I can offer young people I wonder why I am a headteacher and the reasons why we are a success.

“Schools are important because they lead to happy, economically viable, successful young people and lead to vibrant communities and that is

important.”

Jacqueline Cashman, Carlisle-based district secretary for the ATL education union in Cumbria, said her caseload since September supporting members in local schools at risk of losing their jobs “far exceeds” the number she has had to deal with in the last four years.

A former academy school finance director also explained that schools had been grappling with shrinking budgets since 2010 but now things were at “breaking point” which could lead to health and safety implications.

It is projected that Cumbria’s schools will lose more than £23m by 2020 but some parents at Wednesday’s meeting called for individual schools to be more transparent about the impact of financial pressures.

Petra Russell, of Bampton, said: “You have to make it more personal. If I got a letter from my headteacher about exactly what they were having to do then it would instantly make me want to do something about it.”

A similar meeting, organised by the county branch of the National Association of Head Teachers union, was held at Caldew School, Dalston, on Tuesday evening and attracted a further 100 people.

The meetings come amid a national campaign which is gathering pace and sees school funding emerging as a key battleground in the election campaign.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said this week that real-term cuts to spending per pupil for the first time in 20 years is pushing the matter increasingly higher in parents’ minds.

Research published last month calculated that secondary schools could lose the equivalent of six teachers as a result of severe funding cuts.

The average secondary in England is facing cuts of almost £300,000, while primaries will lose out on tens of thousands of pounds, according to an Education Policy Institute (EPI) study.

The National Audit Office has also warned that schools will have to save £3 billion by 2019/20.

Ministers have previously said that school funding is at record levels and this will increase further over the next two years as pupil numbers rise.