A headteacher has revealed the cost of the recent energy price rises to his school.

Patrick Sullivan, who runs Eggar’s School in Holybourne, said its total annual bill for electricity and gas had gone up from £98,000 to £260,000, an increase of 165 per cent.

The electricity charge has risen from £74,000 to £150,000 (up 103 per cent) while the gas bill has leapt from £24,000 to £110,000 (up 358 per cent).

Mr Sullivan added: “It is a huge concern to us. It doesn’t affect the students directly, because you make cuts somewhere else. But it affects them, as a whole school, somewhere.”