Huge crowds descended on Penrith town centre today to protest against school funding cuts.

Teachers, parents and children gave passionate speeches at the rally, attended by more than 1,000 people.

Waving handmade placards and banging drums, the demo aimed to raise awareness of huge cuts to school funding.

The National Audit Office says there will be a £3bn shortfall by 2010 and more than £23m of that will be in Cumbria.

Headteachers took to the stage to explain how it would affect their schools, in many cases resulting in less teachers and teaching assistants and less choice of subjects for students.

Nigel Pattinson, headteacher at Penrith's Ullswater Community College, said he has already made more than £1m in efficiency savings since 2009, but is now set to lose hundreds of thousands of pounds every year.

Ultimately he said that would mean the school being forced to cut many subjects that are not in the core curriculum, including some the more vocational or arts-based subjects.

He said: "This is the first time in 39 years that I've felt it necessary to stand up in public and speak on behalf of the school that I serve, because of what's going on and is likely to be going on in future."

Graham Frost, headteacher at Robert Ferguson Primary School in Carlisle and Cumbria branch secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers union, stressed that the figures are out there for all to see.

"Parents need to understand the full picture - 99 per cent of schools are forecast to be affected by the cuts that we are talking about.

"We've done our homework. Our homework is based on Government data. We are not making this up," he said.

He urged parents to send a message, to whoever is in Government on June 9, to use the autumn statement to reverse the cuts.

The rally, in the Cornmarket, also saw 10-year-old Katie Greenwood, a pupil at North Lakes primary school, stand up and address the crowds.

She said: "I believe that a school should be about more than maths and English. Every child deserves an exciting and varied curriculum, but we won't be getting any of that if these cuts go ahead.

"So wake up Westminster. I'm 10 years old and i can see that this is no way to build a successful future in our country. Fund education fairly. It's our future."