CHILDREN and staff are bearing the brunt of a lack of school funding, a primary school teaching assistant who was hit by pupils “nearly every day” warned today.

The Cardiff-based key worker told public service union Unison that she would dread going into work after being punched, slapped and kicked by young people. 

The teaching assistant, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “I would regularly go home and go straight to bed as I would be emotionally and physically exhausted.

“This had an impact on my family life as I was spending less time with my husband and children in the evenings.”

The traumatic situation was made worse by falling real-terms funding, she stressed.

“The frustration we have is that the children require significant support and, due to current financial stress, like most schools in Cardiff, we have been unable to employ extra staff to be one-to-one with pupils.

“There seems to be a gap in support given to pupils of reception age. We are constantly asking how we get support for pupils.”

She demanded more mental health support for staff, with “several now off sick due to working pressures,” and for young people reeling from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Her damning intervention follows a shocking Unison Cymru survey revealing that a significant number of school staff are being subjected to violence, sexual harassment and abuse, leading some to take months off work or leave education altogether.

The situation in England appears even worse, with Department for Education research published earlier this month showing that a whopping 40,000 teachers — almost one in 10 –— left state schools in 2021-22 for reasons other than retirement.

Rosie Lewis, the union’s head of schools in Wales, said: “Everyone has the right to a safe workplace. It is appalling and completely unacceptable that staff in schools are receiving abuse. 

“Unison works with support staff in schools throughout Wales and across the UK to address these issues and secure decent working conditions and pay.”

She urged the country’s devolved administration to “ensure all school support staff are given support, access to training and much improved pay if we are to avoid an exodus of experienced workers from the education sector.”

The Labour-run Welsh government has repeatedly called on Tory Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to “turn away from austerity and increase funding for public services.”