Jobs under threat as falling budgets bite

JOBS look set to be shed at Earl Shilton’s Heath Lane Academy due to curriculum changes and budget pressures.

The secondary school, part of the Midland Academies Trust (MAT), is among four co-eds in the group to be hit.

George Eliot, Hartshill and the Nuneaton Academy, all in Nuneaton, are also affected.

Heath Lane was established as a new all-through 11-19 school on the former William Bradford Academy site in Earl Shilton last September.

It was created from the merger of William Bradford and the town’s Heathfield Academy.

Bosses at MAT, which is overseen by North Warwickshire and Hinckley College, say they believe losses will be minimal.

At Heath Lane the proposal is to reduce teaching posts by 3.5.

Howver there are already two full-time unfilled posts which look set to remain unfilled.

It is alsoproposed ti increase support staff by 0.5 under the plans.

Unions have been briefed and consultation has opened with staff. This will last for the next month or so.

A statement released by MAT said a restructure of academic and support staff was proposed “to guarantee consistency and efficiency” across the trust but also a response to falling educaton budgets.

The statemenrt added: “The proposed restructure is in response to curriculum changes necessitated by the introduction of Progress 8 measures and also to facilitate a greater level of collaboration between all the academies in the MAT.

“The restructure is also in response to the mounting pressure on schools budgets. Despite Government claims that funding for school has remained static, rising costs faced by all schools mean that, according into the National Audit Office, there will be £3 billion less in school budgets between 2019 - 2020.

“Not only does the current staffing structure at the trust need to change in order to meet the demands of the curriculum strategy, it also needs to change in order to become financially sustainable.”

Progress 8 is a new way of benchmarking school performance according to how well pupils do right from primary school through to secondary school and GSCEs. Based on their key stage results from primary 2 school, pupils are given forecast grades for GCSEs.

If they meet those grades, or even better, exceed them, a school is deemed to have done well.

Previously schools were ranked on the proportion of pupils gaining C grades or higher in five GCSE subjects including English and maths and science.

The announcement comes at the same time Heath Lane Academy principal, Emma Merry revealed in a letter to parents that she was leaving the school at the end of the summer term in July.

She will be joining Kibworth High School in Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicester, as its headteacher from August 2017.

Emma had been principal at William Bradford before taking charge of the merged school.