STAFF and governors of a Weston school have called on extra maintenance funding to help it continue to give a good education.

Walliscote Primary School welcomed John Penrose MP last week and after treating him to a tour of the premises, then questioned him on problems it had had gaining funding from North Somerset Council.

A school spokesman said: “It is a Grade II listed building and a local landmark. However its listed status and complex architecture presents a challenge to maintain and improve.

“We asked John down to discuss the state of this grand building and why the school has been overlooked so many times in the allocation of funding.

“Staff and governors have been lobbying the council for over four years for the funding needed for internal restructuring and improvement.”

Mr Penrose, the tourism and heritage minister, said he hoped improvements would soon be made.

He said: “We agreed the school needed to speak to North Somerset Council about funding.

“I’ve been campaigning for fairer funding for Weston’s schools since 2006, because local children get �600 less education cash per head than pupils in Bristol, and �2,600 less than pupils in parts of London. That isn’t fair.

“North Somerset recently got �1.3million of extra cash for school buildings, on top of �1.8million in 2010.

“Hopefully, some of this can go to schools like Walliscote and I shall be keeping in touch with them to help with their campaign in future.”