Beyond fucking angry about our primary school

That statement from the council does shine a different light on it but I can't imagine it being a "bullying clique" if 30 members of staff have left the primary school (I struggle to imagine a primary school with that many staff anyway, it must have been huge).

What stands out is, according to Ofsted, it was previously good and was downgraded to requires improvement last year.

https://www.bassingbourn.cambs.sch.uk/assets/OfstedReport.pdf

All adds more context doesn't it?

Like a PP I've also known a school where the (very necessary) drive for improvement led to a complete witch hunt, and as ussual with these things I expect there's another "side" to the one being presented

I’ve taught in 2 schools like this, and each one has massively affected my mental health, and left me permanently scarred.

In the first of the two it was so awful and I really couldn’t cope with it, so I attempted suicide twice.

Despite teaching in different schools in between the two and them thankfully being a lot better, and now teaching in yet a different one after, I still feel like a shell of my former self - in my professional and personal life. My confidence just isn’t there anymore.

Someone very important in my life has been through very similar - again, in 2 schools. They have never been themselves ever since, and took early retirement as they just couldn’t take the risk in going to another school and it happening a 3rd time.

I have decided that until I can find a non-Teaching job, that I’ll try my best to get into Senior Leadership. At least that way I’ll remove one potential arsehole from above me. The trouble is, I lack confidence thanks to the way I’ve been treated so it’s unlikely. I would also refuse to treat anyone else like shit, so I don’t think I’d fit in with a lot of SLT I’ve known.

Any school that gets new leadership followed by a mass exodus of staff (dressed up in newsletters as retirement, seeking a new challenge, having a baby, focusing on family life) is almost always a result of a toxic culture.

I'm not surprised seeing it happen in my DC secondary - day to day DD2 last left there is fine but she chose her options with an eye on who was likely to stay.

I've had some interactions with leadership and they were awful. They won't go as they really struggled to find any head last time they looked.

The last Ofsted report in April 2022 was Requires Improvement, having slipped from Good. I suspect that combined with having a new head has a lot to do with staff turnover.

There have been historical bullying allegations at the school over several years which resulted in the local authority conducting a review identifying that the school needed to make rapid improvement in its provision. This was also the findings in the Ofsted inspection which many staff found difficult to accept and left as a result.
"Expectations for children's behaviour and learning have increased and the focus has been put on improving teaching to improve behaviour but again, some staff found this a challenge

But if you read the story you see that the changes were made because staff were failing the kids in the first place. Those that couldn’t hack it left.

We had a similar hack piece in the local paper after our new headteacher joined a few years ago. She’s fab and the school has got so much better - she got rid of the shit teachers who wailed like babies instead of stepping up and doing their job properly

This kind of bullying is absolutely rife in schools.

It was a stand-in head who was an utter demon at the last school I worked at. I watched her take people down, one by one. The place ran on absolute fear - everyone was terrified of falling out of favour. By the time she got to me I was so scared of her that I left both the school and the profession. My Doctor straight out asked me if the job was worth a breakdown. It wasn't.

After I left, a member of staff under 30 had a heart attack due to stress, good teachers have had to sue for decent references and someone off sick committed suicide.

The bitch is an Ofsted inspector now. She'll fit right in.

I'm sorry, but it's more common than you think. This is why teachers are leaving the profession. I've been teaching for 26 years and I survive by being part time.

This is more common than it seems. Any school that gets new leadership followed by a mass exodus of staff (dressed up in newsletters as retirement, seeking a new challenge, having a baby, focusing on family life) is almost always a result of a toxic culture.

One school I worked at years ago lost 18 staff (out of a staff group of 25) in 6 months as a result of a toxic bullying executive head. The school was in chaos for 5 years after and was staffed almost entirely by day to day supply teachers. The teachers who were left were on work visas and had to find a new sponsor for thier visa or were newly qualified and part way through their qualifying year.

Headteachers are in such short supply that getting a toxic head out is very hard.

From the report: "Expectations for children's behaviour and learning have increased and the focus has been put on improving teaching to improve behaviour but again, some staff found this a challenge"

Not being there I couldn't say, but it's hard not to wonder if this means the place had been coasting along lazily until a new Head arrived and expected better, leading to resentment among some staff who quite liked their own way of doing things

By all means ask for this to be looked into, but I wouldn't pay too much attention to a one-sided hatchet job on social media

Something similar happened at my youngest's school, the teachers went on strike and eventually Ofsted came in and graded it inadequate and appointed an IEB.

Exactly. I hadn't read your post when I posted myself.

Not necessarily. The bullying only started when we got a new Head at my school.

It is much more likely that the new head has come in and decided that they want various older members of the staff out and have bullied them in to leaving.
Councils are useless at dealing with bullying heads and often the incoming/new head will have the full support of the governors.

This is how I read the article, however that’s only one side of the story, the teachers tell a very different side m, so the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

It does read as @Spudinafuckit says. That there may have been lots of entrenched staff who were running things their way with an unhealthy dose of bullying who have then been pulled apart by a new head and so they've left.

Many schools are like this. I've been a teacher for ten years and currently off sick looking for my exit route.

Unfortunately, none of this surprises me.

The minutes of the Governing Body meetings will be online.

It's not the only school in Cambridge with a lot of 'bullying culture' and 'SLT failure' problems, unfortunately, which is why I'm not surprised.

I wouldn’t personally make assumptions about why lots of staff have left because of a new head based on an article written by a newspaper who has spoken to one side. What you can do is write to the chair of of governors for them to investigate any allegations of bullying which is what the complains procedure would probably say. Do you have concerns about the school?

My old school was in the news recently as the headmaster was found doing dodgy things with finances - he "left" and if you google, there are loads of stories about bullying and a really unpleasant atmosphere for the teachers.

Sadly, I think it's pretty common.

Surely you would recognise the issue if your dc attend? High turnover and negativity would be obvious,

This is more common than you think.

Schools are pressure cookers.