Cost cutting our primary school is losing a teacher. Head now to teach f/t.

[Lotkinsgonecurly]

Our local rural village school with 90 pupils has faced large funding cuts from the County Council. So, the school has decided to lose a teacher rather than look for alternative ways to recoup the money or alternative fundraising etc.

I'm quite worried for the future of the school. There are now 3 teachers instead of 4 and the head teacher will be teaching a year 5/6 class together with a teaching assistant.

How have other local primary schools arranged themselves due to cost cutting and does anyone have any experience of this arrangement working?

How many classes will that leave you with?

As in, is it 4 classes, with 3 teacher + the head? Or 3 classes, 1 of which will be taught by the head?

In a nutshell, school budgets as I understand it work best with 30 in a class. If there are less than 30, the amount of money per class (to pay for staff) is lower. So if you have 4 classes of 22/23 then that is still 7 or 8 pupils short of the 'optimum' budgeted amount. If it is 3 of 30, then that is 'normal' ratio of teachers to pupils and the funding level is secure.

i know, i know, it's more complicated than this and has all kinds of other things going on. But a school readjusting classes to bring class sizes closer to 30 does not put their future in danger, it puts their funding on a more secure footing.

That said, a F/T teaching head is quite an ask. The school I teach in is of a similar size and we have a non-teaching head (who is also SENCo - quite a heavy job in a school like ours). Is the TA a HLTA who can take the class on her own?

our local primary of 40 pupils will lose a full-time teacher and there will be 2.5 teachers in Sept which includes the head. She will teach half the week. Three teachers for 90 pupils sounds stretched unless you have a few higher level TAs. Also school swimming, music involves outside staff which evens the load for main staff. It all may depend on the individual county you're in. I would hope they'd look for alternative funding, but the costs of a teacher aren't going to be met by economies elsewhere. It's possible that your school has decided on losing a teacher rather than, say, 1.5 TAs.

Hope it works out for you.

Its definitely 4 classes 3 plus the HT. There are a few good ta's plus there is a ta assisting the class who is in her last year of a PGCE.

I think I'm just really concerned this is happening. The HT isn't the most organised person around.

That poor headteacher will need all the support she/ he can get. Tha decision will not have been taken lightly.