HEADTEACHERS going back in front of classes to fill the spaces left by lost staff... more pupils crammed into classes... extra curricular activities being axed from the timetable altogether...

This will be the scene in Dorset secondary schools next week when youngsters return for the autumn term, warn local teaching bosses.

Their terrible vision of education in Bournemouth and Poole's secondary schools follows a report by teaching union NAHT which claims 3,500 teachers have been lost across the country as a result of the funding crisis this year.

The report also claims that the South West has been the hardest hit by the loss of staff, and that class sizes could reach levels not seen since the 1950s, when groups of 40 were common.

Pam Orchard, local secretary of the Secondary Heads' Association, said: "I think this is only the tip of the iceberg and when the NAHT come out with a report for primary schools the situation will be far worse.

"I know of one secondary in Bournemouth where class sizes have already gone up, and another where options such as music could be dropped.

"Here at Glenmoor we have more girls than in previous years but have lost five full-time teachers. If we'd had those teachers there's no doubt in my mind that our exam results this year would have been much higher."

Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, has met with top government education officials to highlight the funding emergency in Poole which is already one the worst funded LEAs in the

country.

She said: "I'm not in the least bit surprised by these NAHT figures and it endorses the fact that Poole headteachers haven't been making loud noises just for the hell of it.

"I also wonder how schools are going to be able to run the new workload agreements being heaped on them by government. It's an impossible situation for them."