Hundreds of pupils have taken letters home urging their parents to lobby ministers for funding to address the school places crisis.

Kingston Council plans to build a new secondary school in north Kingston, a new primary school in Surbiton, and permanently expand other primaries to deal with an increase in student numbers.

However, funding for the secondary school has been stalled since the new Government axed the Building Schools for the Future scheme last July.

And in February, the council shelved plans to expand five primary schools because of a shortfall in Government funding.

The letter, signed by Liberal Democrat education spokesman Councillor Liz Green and her Tory counterpart Councillor Andrea Craig, asked parents to write to Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove and minister Lord Hill.

They wrote: “We have yet to receive any assurances that capital funding will be available for necessary expansion of secondary schools, including the building of the new school in north Kingston, or the equally necessary further expansion of primary schools.

“Please email Michael Gove, so he can see that we, as a community, are concerned about the lack of funding to ensure we can educate our children.”