Schools in East Yorkshire face an "impending crisis" with class sizes mushrooming beyond 40 and up to 150 teaching jobs on the line.

That is the stark warning as education chiefs prepare a campaign to squeeze extra funding out of the Government.

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council, which is responsible for schools to the east of York and Selby, will shortly be urging parents to add their voice to its clamour for cash.

It believes a co-ordinated campaign involving schools, politicians and parents is the best hope of bringing the situation to ministers' notice. Its plea for help will go out to parents on June 5 in the form of a leaflet given to children to take home.

Severe constraints this year have already seen 40 teaching posts and 22 support staff jobs vanish since January.

And class sizes are well above the national average - beyond 40 in certain primary schools.

Council spokesman Steve Scully said the figures were testimony to "the impending crisis".

Martin Reed, of the National Union of Teachers, warned that classes in some parts of East Yorkshire could be forced to accommodate as many as 45 pupils if the situation continued.

And councillor Audrey Nasar, Labour's education spokeswoman on the council, said that in a worst case scenario, between 100 and 150 teachers and dozens of support staff could lose their jobs next year.

She said: ""I am very, very frightened about what is going to happen. This campaign has simply got to be successful.''

A Government spokesman said it would consider seriously any arguments put by East Riding of Yorkshire Council. "We are undertaking a review of local government finance," he said.

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