A VILLAGE school has been given a prestigious award, despite being hit by the Worcestershire education funding crisis.

Flyford Flavell School has won a Gold Artsmark award even though its shrinking budget has forced it to lose a member of staff.

Head teacher Elaine Huntington said the award recognises the school's efforts to integrate art into the heart of the learning process. "We use a range of skills and opportunities to enrich the whole curriculum for the children."

Despite this success and a glowing Ofsted report last year, the school was recently faced with a tough decision.

"This year the budget barely covered the payroll," said Mrs Huntington. "It is not a case of financial mismanagement - we were praised for our management by the Ofsted inspectors last month. The issue of funding is something that affects many schools, particularly in Worcestershire."

In order to plug the funding gap it was decided not to replace a teacher who is leaving at the end of this academic year. "It is a real blow, particularly for smaller schools."

Mrs Huntington added that the education of her pupils would not suffer. "We are fortunate that we are in a very supportive and generous community and have had a lot of help from parents.

"Although the pupils are not going to suffer this year, I do have worries about the future if the budgets keep eroding."

Peter Luff, who visited the school last week to help it celebrate its Artsmark award, has lobbied Government ministers about the funding of Worcestershire schools.

Speaking in Parliament last Thursday, he said: "The Government has bought forward no proposals at all to address the growing gap between Worcestershire's funding and the English national funding average, despite teachers being paid on a national pay scale."