REV DAVID FAREY: Decision on Hellingly's new school has been delayed

Very frustrating! The news comes at a time when education is under pressure. Schools and headteachers are screaming out to the Government that the cuts are severely impacting on our schools.

The funding system is flawed and headteachers face a bleak future of having to severely reduce staff numbers, and yet still be able to teach the children committed to their charge.

Meanwhile the Government is declaring that spending on education is at record levels. Their message has the tone of, “Listen to these silly headteachers. They don’t know what they are talking about because they are wrong.”

This is just one of the reasons why we simply do not trust politicians.

What they are saying about education spending is not a lie, but it denies the truth underlying the crisis.

Money can be spent on buildings and all kinds of fancy schemes, but the bottom line is that the schools will not have enough money to employ teachers.

The result will be that schools will have to cut corners and children will be given a significantly poorer education.

The tragedy is that one of the Government’s jobs is to ensure the future survival of our nation and the health and wellbeing of the population.

Children’s education is an important part of building for that future. But I do not envy them the task. They have to cut their coat according to their cloth, and there isn’t a lot of it!

Education has to vie with health and social services, as well as defence and transport for funds. Inevitably at this time as we are still trying to recover from the implosion of the banks money will be tight.

But to say to struggling schools that they have enough money and yet still have to produce the same quality of education will only lead to ever increasingly nasty conflict.

For any government to declare that everything is fine, and that people really shouldn’t complain and simply get on with their job when it clearly is not and that institutions really cannot carry on doing what they have been doing because of lack of resources is both idiotic and patronising.

No wonder politicians are not popular!

The churches are currently in Passiontide when we think of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.

There is perhaps a sense that we are all sharing in that suffering and that Christ is sharing in our pain with us.