to think 12/18 teachers leaving is odd?

[TheSpiderWeb]

My DS is in reception at an infant school that joined a MAT voluntarily last year. The head teacher left at Easter with 2 weeks notice and now there are 12 teachers leaving at the end of term. Of the 6 remaining teachers, 3 of those are part time PPA cover.
Would this concern you? I was thinking it could just be people don't like change/genuine reasons for leaving but it just seems excessive and concerns me. I just can't put my finger on why exactly.

I've known secondaries lose 20-25% of staff in one year... funnily enough they were never the happy places to work in where staff felt supported.

Actually the last one was a bit different, again MAT coming in following a blip in OFSTED in the immediate aftermath of a change of OFSTED focus. The grip of the MAT tightened gradually. There was a large proportion of staff that were brewing to retire that went enmasse, some jumping slightly early. The SMT was totally changed within 18m. A lot of it was people seeing the change of culture from very pupil centred to teaching by data. A lot went within two years. I worked there on a series of short term contracts and was quite happy to skip away at the end of the last year as the "assistant" Head from the MAT took over from the Head who took early retirement.

Most of the time, wild sweeping changes are bad for schools. Children need stability and security to learn well. Teachers need to focus on the core tasks of teaching not catching up with the inititative of the term.

Getting to M6 on the payscale without seeking promotion into management is career suicide. Cheap disposable NQTs are the order of the day.

Looking at other schools is a wise move.

12 out of 18 teachers leaving is definitely a bad sign, and the head leaving at Easter is very unusual too- usually they would aim to see the year out if they possibly could.

If the school is underperforming then it could possibly be a good thing long term, but things are likely to get worse before they get better. Depending on where you are in the country, 12 teachers may be difficult to find for September. Other teachers locally may also know that a lot of staff are leaving and be wary of applying for the jobs.

As others have said you will probably end up with a mix of NQT, unqualified teachers and possibly some long term supply in September. This is likely to lead to a high turnover of staff during the year - which is really not ideal for children.

Personally, I would be looking at your options for leaving the school.