Some schools in Plymouth are now closing early on Fridays because of a shortage of money, councillors heard.

The issue was highlighted during a discussion about education funding in the city.

Labour councillor Jeremy Goslin said schools around the country were closing at Friday lunchtime and in some cases replacing lessons with after-school clubs.

Cllr Goslin said it was also happening in Plymouth and he raised concerns about the cost and disruption for parents as well as the impact of lost time in education for children.

Cllr Goslin supported a call at a meeting of the council for the Government to lift funding restrictions and increase the cash given to schools in the city.

He said: “We’re replacing free schooling with optional clubs and societies at extra cost to parents. Many parents can’t afford these costs. They want their child educated.”

Cllr Gosling added: “We are not delivering an education of a standard that we enjoyed as school children – of a five-day, full-day, working education.”

The council’s education scrutiny committee is to investigate the scale of early-closing in the city.

A request for the study was put forward by Labour cabinet member for education Jon Taylor at a meeting of the full council on Monday afternoon.

There was cross-party support for his motion which called on the Government to increase school funding in the city to the England average and to remove a limit on the extra amount schools can get.

Councillors were told schools in the city had lost out on more than £5m this year due to the cap on extra funding, with the biggest impact on schools with the most need.

They included Sir John Hunt Community Sports College losing £320,000; Tor Bridge High School £380,000; Eggbuckland Community College £329,000; and Beechwood Primary £86,000.

Cllr Taylor’s motion stated that according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, spending per pupil in England had fallen by 8 per cent.

Currently schools in Plymouth were getting £338 less per pupil than the average in England.

Cllr Taylor said: “Every year this goes on the Government is failing more children in Plymouth.”

Labour leader Tudor Evans responded to a recent statement by the regional schools commissioner that under-performance by Plymouth schools was about leadership not money.

Cllr Evans said at the meeting: “The fabric of our education in our city is close to breaking point.

“This generation of children are being sold short in their education.

“To those who say school improvement in Plymouth is not about money, how do you know?

“We have excellent teachers and excellent schools, but they have been starved for far too long.”

Conservative group leader Ian Bowyer backed the motion and said they understood Plymouth had not had its “fair share of the cake” due to historic underfunding.

He said Conservatives were lobbying hard to address the issue and had some success with the Government’s new funding formula.

But he said he was tired of the “constant demand and clamour” for more cash from Labour for everything.

Cll Bowyer said the Government was spending more than ever before on education.

He said leadership had been flagged up as an issue in Plymouth “quite rightly”.

School headships in Plymouth had “almost become a closed shop” with deputies replacing heads.

That might be right in some cases, but it had happened “too many times” and he was concerned about the number of Ofsted reports labelling schools as failing.

Conservative Glenn Jordan, supporting the motion, said the money had to be spent in the right way.

He said: “We want to see more money spent on our schools, we want to see it spent on the right things.

“What is the point of giving a failing school more money? All you have is a more expensive problem.

“We have got to make sure we have a system that works.”