Six out of eight teachers leaving dd's outstanding infant school in sept...

[stella1w]

.... Does that sound like a crisis to you.. Head is a control freak, unpopular with parents but school is wellrun and gets good results and children happy. School likely to become academy in sept but we were told the teachers were ok about it... What's your reading... Should i be worried?

[amistillsexy]

IMO, it's not likely to be Outstanding for long with that number of teachers leaving. Sounds like one hell of a coincidence, or the teachers are voting with their feet!

[orangeandemons]

Yes, I'd be worried. Also I teach in an ousted outstanding school and the stress is hideous. Perhaps that's why they are leaving

[HumphreyCobbler]

A stressy head can make your life an utter misery. You can be rated outstanding as a teacher and still have an unbelievably shit time whilst doing your job.

Not all heads of outstanding schools are like this, the best carry their staff with them in a positive way.

[Charmingbaker]

How long has the head been there?
If they're relatively new it's probably an issue with the head. If they've been there more than a couple of years I'd guess the teachers aren't happy about academy status.

[Smartiepants79]

Doesn't sound good, that's a lot of staff in one go.
If my school went academy I'd be leaving too.
I would advise you wait and see how it affects the children before thinking about moving tho.
The change am be positive. You never know.

[stella1w]

Head has been there a v long time...

[DeWe]

Depends on the reasoning. Dh is a governor at an infant school and one year independently 4 teachers and one support staff were leaving, which is a huge number in such a small school.
And rumours went round that there'd been huge arguements etc.
However dh knew that one was getting married and moving to live with new husband, one was retiring (and had been putting it off for a while so was no surprise), one was moving to look after aging parents, one had a (well deserved) promotion, and one had decided that she wanted to stay at home with her two young children while they were still too small for school.

No teacher had left for 4 years, so it was a bit of a shock, but they were all genuine reasons. Didn't stop some parents panicking though.

[Mutteroo]

We lost all bar one teacher over a two year period after Ofsted rated the school highly. The HT was a major reason for the staff leaving, however, so was having such an excellent Ofsted. Teachers are like anyone else & when you're praised it makes you feel you can achieve more elsewhere. While your DCs school may have problems generated by the HT, it's possible that it was the right time for staff to move on, especially with changes becoming an academy can bring.

[JoyceDivision]

Sounds like dcsschool. Old head was a bitch, being cliquey and letting staff have daysoff, extra lunch etc, newhead came in, loads of staff left.

[ihearsounds]

Could be because they are fed up with the ht.
Local school is outstanding. Has been for a number of years.
In the past 2 years, 6 teachers have left (what's wrong with that I hear you ask, there is only 5 classes). Some of these teachers had been there over 10 years. Then there's over 20 ta's that have left.

Yes some have left because of other commitments, health problems, moving etc.. But this accounts for less than 10. Plus a couple of more have just handed in their notice.

The main reasons is because of the ht and how the individual treats the staff. It really, really is shocking. It's the pressure. The false promises. The constant changing of things. The insane policies, that claim staff were consulted recently but no-one was asked. The days on end when there is no senior staff on site, only avaiable on a mobile that isn't answered. The division of the ht of the ta's, of those with degrees who are well educated but haven't got an ounce of common sense between them, compared to the ones who do it because they want to, who are loyal, but in the eyes of the ht are stupid... I could go on.

Yes, not all have left, but the ones that remain are also looking to move, and currently remain because they know the pupils will suffer.