THIS month I take over as president of the school leaders’ union NAHT.

I’ve been a headteacher in Blackpool for 15 years. In that time, my team has taken my school from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘outstanding’ in the eyes of Ofsted.

Now I face the heartbreaking and perverse task of having to break that team up because I don’t have the funds to pay everyone.

There will be many other schools in your part of the world which find themselves in the same position as mine.

Nationally, eight out of 10 schools is rated good or outstanding by Ofsted. We must not allow underfunding of state education to break up the thousands of successful staff teams who have made this happen.

If we do, we will be putting future standards at serious risk.

Andy Mellor National president, NAHT