TAXPAYERS cash was spent on a scheme that lets groups of teachers go on fact-finding trips across Europe.

Fair Oak Infant School is one Hampshire school which seized the opportunity to strengthen European ties by taking part in the Comenius Education Project, set up and funded by the European Commission.

But with a price tag of £11,000 for each school taking part, tax campaigners believe Brussels should send the cash directly to educating pupils at school.

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The Comenius Project gives schools the chance to team up with others to share ways of learning and teaching about other cultures through teachers visiting each other’s schools.

Fair Oak has teamed up with schools in Italy, Sweden, Turkey and Newcastle, and over the past two years groups of teachers from each have seen how things are done in different countries.

Four members of Fair Oak staff went to Italy last week for a five-day trip.

Head teacher Hazel Shaw said: “This project has been amazingly positive for our children. Their education is now broader and so much richer.”

Matthew Sinclair, research director at the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “The thousands of pounds spent in just one school, could make a big difference if it was spent directly on educating pupils.

“The real reason that the European Commission is funding this scheme is that it forms of their vain attempts to stop people thinking of themselves as British and create a European identity.”