PRIME Minister Theresa May has responded to concerns about financial pressure at a secondary school near Oxford.

As the Oxford Mail reported last month, Wheatley Park School - of which the politician is a former pupil - plans to finish early on Fridays to cut staffing expenditure. It would result in the loss of an hour-long lesson.

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Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions today, Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said: "References have already been made to the Prime Minister’s moving speech on ‘burning injustices’ in education.

"On the day when her own former school, I understand, Wheatley Park School near Oxford, is planning to move to part time education because of what the headteacher calls ‘enormous financial pressures’, does she not agree that she must secure, before she leaves office, additional funding outside the spending review?"

Mrs May replied: "We've already been putting extra money into schools, we are ensuring schools are funded, we recognise the pressures there have been on schools and we are ensuring that the schools are funded."

The 1,040-pupil school's headteacher, Tim Martin, told the Oxford Mail last month: "Schools up and down the country are having to make very difficult decisions in the current financial climate – it's our view that [the government] not investing in education is a short-term outlook."

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Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran said: "Vince is absolutely right to highlight what is a crisis in this country.

"Schools are going part-time due to real-terms cuts, and using Amazon wish lists just for basic supplies.

"The Prime Minister has highlighted this ‘burning injustice’, but what has she done about it? We need action from the Conservatives, not words and legacy planning."

Tim Bearder, Oxfordshire county councillor for Wheatley, said the secondary school's proposal to finish early was 'drastic action.'

He added: "It adds insult to injury when you consider that our primary school [Wheatley Park CE Primary School] is already in special measures.

"The time to address the funding crisis in our schools is now."