Teachers’ job uncertainty
STAFF ROLES AT SCHOOL LOSING SECONDARY PHASE IN HANDS OF NEARBY SCHOOL WHICH WILL RUN SITE
TEACHERS at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, which will lose its secondary phase this summer following closure plans by Kirklees Council, could end up without jobs.
Staff could be redeployed at partner schools that have accepted ACS pupils, such as King James’s in Almondbury, Netherhall Learning Campus and Newsome High.
Education chiefs said vacant posts “had been shared” with teachers allowing them to apply for “suitable positions” elsewhere in the area.
They said further opportunities were expected to follow.
Secondary pupils will continue to be taught at ACS from September, but only for a year.
The youngsters will actually join the roll at nearby King James’s on St
Helen’s Gate but will be taught at the former ACS site on Fernside Avenue.
New Year 7 students will spend the academic year based at the former ACS campus.
And 25 Year 10 students joining King James’s from ACS in September will remain at Fernside Avenue to complete GCSEs during Year 11.
Asked if staff jobs were secure for one more year Martin Wilby, the council’s senior strategic manager for learning places and access, said any decision would be for King James’s.
“What we have to be really clear about is that the operation has been passed on. It is a different entity, so it will be King James’s operating from that site.
“Any staff operating from that site will be King James’s staff so it will be managed and run by King James’s.
“It’s a matter for the school rather than the council.”
Clr Paul White (Ind, Holme Valley
North) sought reassurance over staffing and asked if teachers currently at ACS would be found permanent posts.
In response Jo-Anne Sanders, the council’s service director learning and early support who has overseen the axeing of secondary provision at ACS, said the authority wished to retain “great staff working locally”.
She said the council was continuing to work collaboratively with partner schools involved in the ACS transition as well as the governing body but cautioned that it was “still quite early days.”
She commented: “It’s not a onesize-fits-all. We are about creating opportunities.
“It’s whether [staff] choose those. There are other opportunities but each one is individual. What we are trying to do is be open, fair and transparent. We will be working on this throughout the primary/secondary phase.”
Kirklees Council opted last summer to shut the secondary phase at Almondbury Community School.
The Labour-run authority said a rescue package designed in 2014 to save the school by making it a through school had not worked.