A HEAD teacher is warning it may be difficult to sustain his school's high standards due to a lack of funding.

Evenlode Primary School's head teacher Steve Rees revealed his fears as the work of dedicated teachers and staff at the Penarth school was praised in a report by ESTYN.

The impressive report saw the school rated as good or excellent in all the key criteria and given a green (excellent) rating in the school's categorisation system.

The three key questions asked how good outcomes, provision and management were at the school.

The report from the inspection praised effective teaching methods, exemplary behaviour of pupils, the dedication of their staff and the development of partnerships with parents.

Mr Rees and chairman of the governors Ceri Griffiths put this down to the hard work of their "dedicated team of staff".

The two recommendations made were to develop pupils' Welsh skills and provide systematic opportunities to develop numeracy.

But despite the report suggesting the prospects for improvement are excellent, Mr Rees is not so sure due to a lack of funding.

He said: "The picture is generally the same across Penarth's schools.

"Staff, pupils and governors are all very pleased with the report's findings but it may be difficult to sustain our high standards."

He went on to say how Evenlode is the lowest funded school in the Vale and amongst the lowest in Wales.

Evenlode generates nearly £400 less than children in an identical equivalent school in Newport.

The foundation phase of the education improvement grant fell £16,000 short on staffing costs alone.

This has meant that a number of sporting activities have had to be binned because of a lack of staff numbers to oversee them.

However, they have been working with Dragonfly training to put on a creative writing project which has been copied by schools across Wales and England.

The school has spoken with a number of political representatives in relation to its funding.

"It's a great report but we are worried about the future which is looking uncertain at the moment," Mr Rees said.