Troubled academy says it is taking steps to reduce staff turnover
BULWELL Academy has explained why so many staff have chosen to leave after it emerged that 172 have moved on from 2018 to 2023.
The school has shared an update about its staffing levels and says steps are in place to reduce turnover.
Of the 172 staff members who have left, 23 of them signed non-disclosure agreements. There are currently 136 members of the staff at the school according to the report, which includes 51 teachers with their qualified teacher status (QTS) and five or fewer who do not have their QTS.
Regarding this, a spokesperson for Creative Education Trust, which runs Bulwell Academy, said: “Bulwell is a large academy with just under 140 staff. Our staff are highly skilled and experienced, which means that they are extremely marketable, particularly in the context of a national recruitment crisis in schools.
“The retention of our staff is a key priority for Bulwell Academy, and we have already put in place several steps designed to reduce staff turnover.”
The Post uncovered the statistics through a Freedom of Information request, and that same report also addressed pupil attendance after data from the Department of Education showed that pupils missed a combined 12,124 days of school in just two terms for the 2022/23 academic year.
The school has confirmed that in the autumn term of the 2022/23 academic year 9,343 days of school were missed, and for the recently finished autumn term for the 2023/24 academic year 8,956.5 days had been missed.
A spokesperson for Creative Education Trust stated: “Attendance is a national issue affecting schools up and down the country. Leaders at both Bulwell and in the trust have been doing what we can to achieve the highest possible attendance at The Bulwell Academy. We are encouraged by the trajectory of improvement being made.
“Overall attendance for the autumn term at Bulwell has improved faster than the national average, and notably, for pupils with SEND the increase is 2.1%. Encouragingly, the percentage of pupils who are persistently absent from the school has reduced by nearly 6% - again this is improving at a faster rate than the national average.
“We will continue to do whatever it takes to improve attendance and want to thank parents and carers for their support during what has been a challenging period for all.”