THE new headteacher at a city high school has hit out at what he says is the unfair funding hindering Worcestershire's education.

Neil Morris, who officially begins at Christopher Whitehead High School on Monday, September 1, has spent a decade teaching in Birmingham and three years as a deputy head in Herefordshire.

While Birmingham benefited from Area Cost Adjustment, Worcestershire's councillors, schools and parents have been trying to win the funding by campaigning to Westminster.

The cash is meant to compensate councils for the extra costs of employing people in the area, and Worcestershire's schools have been missing out on around £4m or £5m.

And Mr Morris' previous school - Hereford's Whitecross High School - is set to benefit from a multi-million pound overhaul making it an educational centre of excellence.

"It's frustrating that in Hereford we got money because we were classed as rural, and in Birmingham because we were in the inner city, but in Worcester we get nothing," he said.

"If Christopher Whitehead High School was in another similar county, like Buckinghamshire, we would be £400,000 better off. In fact, just a few miles down the road it would receive more money and that can't be right.

"We only survive by letting out areas of the school when we are not using them, and, where the building is already worn and crumbling, this isn't something we want to do."

Mr Morris, who was captain of Worcester Rugby Club in 1990, is firmly behind proposals to move the Bromwich Road school to a new site.

"I'm trying to divorce the plans from the Tesco bid," he said. "I sympathise with residents who don't want a supermarket on their doorsteps but I have to look at the opportunity from an academic viewpoint.

"Myself and the governors want to move for educational reasons and it's frustrating for the school and its students that Tesco has to be involved at all."

Mr Morris, a married father-of-three, taught at Christopher Whitehead High School in 1989, and is thrilled to be returning in his first post as headteacher.

"It is humbling to be coming back as head," he said. "It will be challenging, but I am really excited with the opportunities and potential at the school."