‘No drop in standard of teaching’

A secondary school head says the quality of teaching will not be affected after the departure of four senior members of staff.

Susanne Staab was responding to concerns raised by some of her staff that there is a “lack of stability” at the Norton Knatchbull Grammar School in Hythe Road, Ashford.

Staff fear that senior heads of department have left the school, leaving unfilled vacancies that could lead to a drop in teaching standards for pupils.

In an email shared with the Kentish Express, staff said standards had been getting “markedly worse” over the past year.

And in the summer, members of the NASUWT teaching union staged a walkout in protest against the management of the school after redundancies were made in certain A-level subjects.

Staff leaving at Christmas included the head of English, head of physics, an IT teacher and a physics lab technician.

But last year the school boasted its best GCSE results for a generation, and Ms Staab says those who left at Christmas have been replaced with fully qualified staff.

In a statement she said: “Those members of staff who were leaving had all served the school for a significant period of time and left either for promotion or, in one case, to reduce travelling time.

“The school is confident that these changes will not have an adverse effect on the quality of teaching and learning, as all the teachers recruited are very experienced with a proven track record of success.”

Head teacher Susanne Staab