SIX Liverpool secondary schools will be forced to close down within three years because they do not have enough cash to keep going, a teaching union claimed last night. The NASUWT said some high schools in Liverpool are losing hundreds of thousands in funding because there are not enough children. Cllr Paul Clein, executive member for education, confirmed there were likely to be closures. The Daily Post understands schools affected by poor admission rates include St Benedicts Catholic High, Campion Catholic High, Parklands High, De La Salle and Fazakerley High. The lower their intake of new pupils the less government cash schools they are eligible for, which can lead to budget cuts. The union has called for councillors to draw up a closure plan to prevent the school's deteriorating further. John Hayes, secretary of Liverpool NASUWT, said: "In the next three years, five or six schools in Liverpool will be forced to declare themselves in severe financial difficulties and have to close. "Schools get so much funding per pupil but some are getting low numbers of admissions. "If that happens for a few years in a row then they can end up with a £300,000 budget deficit. "That starts a slow and painful death for a school. "Any school attracting fewer than 100 new pupils a year is in big trouble. "We have warned the LEA about this numerous times, but there is not the political will to do anything about it. "No councillor wants to be the one to vote to close a school on their patch, but this is not a political issue, it is about children's education and that is suffering. "We want a proper, managed plan of action." Falling birth rates has meant many primary schools across Merseyside have been forced to close down. The problem is only now beginning to filter through to secondary schools. There have been 1,000 fewer pupils in the system every year since 2000. Cllr Clein said: "The size of some schools will be reduced as we re-build or refurbish them. "One or two schools are likely to close over the next five years but we do not know which ones are affected. "There are a number of factors involved, falling roles is a significant one, I'll admit, but there are other things to take into account. I cannot foresee which ones will be affected." The council fears the unions comments will put parents off from from sending their children to schools with low admission rates. A spokesman for the council said: "It can damage confidence in a school and lead to parents deciding to send pupils elsewhere, compounding the situation. Numbers will always fluctuate from year to year due to numerous factors. "Parklands and Fazakerley are both PFI schools and we commissioned an independent report to prove that both schools would be viable over the next 25 years in order to secure the finance. "Surplus places are monitored closely and we will not hesitate to tackle the issue in order to ensure that resources are spent efficiently. Several secondary schools have been shut in recent years as a result of falling numbers and to suggest we do not take this issue seriously is simply not true." Nobody from the Liverpool Catholic diocese, which is responsible for the Catholic schools in the city, was available for comment. | 
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