School heads were not informed that council subsidies for trips to the Hornsea residential centre had been withdrawn until just before the summer holidays – despite the decision being taken in May.

The funding gap means children at Greenhill Junior and Infants School in Eastmoor are not able to go on their trip later this month.

And trips for other Wakefield schools to the centre have been thrown into doubt.

Jane Hardy, head at Greenhill said: "To be totally honest I could cry. The email I received on July 24 said the decision had been taken in May to withdraw the subsidy but due to an communications error, heads had not been informed.

"I spent the bulk of the holidays trying and see if any extra funding could be found from anywhere. Unfortunately I had to inform parents when the kids came back this week that the trip had to be cancelled."

The Hornsea centre has operated as a seaside base for school trips for 60 years and is a base for educational field trips in the surrounding area.

Over 30 children aged four to six were due to go from Greenhill on September 22.

One parent, who did not wish to be named, said: "My daughter came home in tears, she had been looking forward to the trip so much. Someone has made some bad decisions here."

Elaine McHale, Wakefield Council's corporate director for family services, said: "We will work with schools to ensure that all children who were due to visit the Hornsea Centre will continue to do so."

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