A CAMPAIGNER for fairer funding for Worcestershire schools has hit out at the way the county is portrayed when it comes to getting cash for pupils.

Helen Donovan said she was angered by the way Worces-tershire was shown to be relatively affluent, and therefore in need of less funding for each pupil.

Mrs Donovan was referring to a recent presentation made by Dugald Sandeman, director of school resources at the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), at the annual conference of the f40 campaign group.

She said the presentation showed "a very leafy looking Evesham High Street against a deliberately very sorry looking Tower Hamlets" and also "a lovely detached house in Evesham against the tower blocks of Tower Hamlets".

Mrs Donovan, who represents Worcestershire on the f40 group, said: "What the size of a child's house has got to do with the learning abilities is beyond me. And anyway, I found plenty of £1 million mansions within a half-mile radius of Tower Hamlets - and Birmingham's, come to that - yet they all benefit from the extra funding."

Mrs Donovan's comments follow the recent announcement of three-year cash settlements for schools, in which Worcestershire once again fell in to the top 10 worst-funded councils in England.

She said the county's funding should be brought more in-line with other areas.

In an online debate between Mrs Donovan, Worcester's MP Mike Foster and Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff, Mrs Donovan said: "All Worcestershire children lose out to the DCSF-perpetuated myth that we are all living it up like lords in country retreats here in Worcester-shire. A child's need at school, does not miraculously reduce by £800 each per year should they move house 30 miles down the road from one authority to another.

"And children who live in traditionally DCSF perceived affluent' areas, can also have special educational needs."

But Mr Foster said school funding was complex and to introduce uniform funding across the country would not serve pupils well.

He said: "A uniform payment is not the solution. I called for a formula that treated a child in Worcestershire in exactly the same way as a child from any other part of the country - not equal funding for every child, but equal treatment. The test of fairness is that if a school was lifted out of Worcestershire into any other area that school would attract the same level of funding then as now."