A school has had to rely on £100,000 of lottery funding to repair its crumbling main building – because it only gets £27,000 a year from the Government to maintain its whole site.

Impington Village College’s Grade I listed “architectural gem”, which was designed by German architect and founder of the Bauhaus design movement Walter Gropius, has “significantly deteriorated” around the front of the main hall in the last year.

The reliance on the college to secure non-Government funding for basic building maintenance illustrates the difficulties that many Cambridgeshire schools face.

They are the worst off in the land for basic per pupil funding, a wrong highlighted by the News’ A Fair Deal For Our Schools campaign.

Rob Campbell, headteacher of the school, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary, said: “The Gropius Building is an architectural gem, but the financial responsibility and upkeep of such an important Grade I Listed building is very hard to manage.

“The college receives a capital maintenance grant from central government of just £27,000 per annum, which must include maintenance of the whole village college site.

“Special funds for repair and restoration of listed buildings is not possible since the Government changed the funding rules in 2012/13.

“Add this to the fact that Cambridgeshire is the lowest funded education authority and you soon realise that the Gropius Building presents a real concern for the college.

“We are therefore particularly thrilled to have received the support of Heritage Lottery Fund to enable the first stage of crucial repair work.”

The funding was only won because IVC Parents, Staff and Friends Association (PSFA) raised £15,000 of matched funding.

The money will support a project restoring the 1939 building, which is starting in the spring and involves the Royal Institute of British Architects, local historians and volunteers.

Mr Gropius, who fled Nazi oppression in 1934, helped to bring modernism to the British school building and his Impington effort was seen as a blueprint for suburban secondary school design.

Robyn Llewellyn, head of Heritage Lottery Fund East of England, said: “It is fantastic that thanks to lottery players’ money the 75th anniversary of Impington Village College will be marked by restoring this significant building to its original glory.

“Activities such as exhibitions and workshops will offer the local community the opportunity to learn more about this nationally important building on their doorstep.”