Feeling sad about a teacher and TA leaving due to cuts

[WhispersOfWickedness]

My DC go to a small school (75 students, 4 teachers) and we found out today that a teacher and TA are being made redundant. Feeling really sad about it, they are both amazing and an asset to the school, and I'm gutted for them that this is the result of school cuts 😔 Not sure why I started the thread really, just wanted to have a bit of a moan 😔

The staff leaving at dds school this year arnt being replaced, they are instead getting the non teaching staff - deputy's to do a few days teaching a week each instead and other staff are doing job shares

Although I'm absolutely certain that they are an asset and wonderful, 4 teachers for 75 children averages out at 18 per class? And there are TAs too?
That's private school ratios and not really affordable in state schools I'm afraid as nice as it would be.

Is one of the teachers in the school the head? Do they teach part time too?

We are 65 students and 4 teachers including a teaching head so in a similar boat...

Economics of small schools, even in better-funded times, can be fraught.

Basically school budgets are worked on the assumption that 30 pupils = 1 teacher (and possibly 1 TA, depending on how the school chooses to send e.g. PP money)

A school with 75 children can just about manage 3 teachers - though it is still operating well below the 'calculated' value of 90 pupils for 3 teachers, especially if it is a separate school and has a head etc as well.

4 teachers was always over-generous, and with ongoing funding freeze is now unaffordable.

Schools this size really do need to grasp the situation that they have been generously funded in comparison to larger schools. Most schools need 30 children in a class to make it work so 3 with 25 in a class is generous. Or 4 classes is really generous so cuts are only bringing the school into line with everyone else.

I've never understood the cost of these small schools to be honest. Paying a head, deputy and teachers for what is essentially 2.5 classes of children seems ridiculous and so wasteful. We have 3 small schools with no more than 5/6 children per year within a 5 miles radius. Each with its own head etc. Such a waste of resources.

I suppose it would make more sense to close some and provide free transport to schools further away, although sad for the people involved when a village school closes and you never know when the birth rate might go up and the school be needed again.

The next few years are going to see a number of smaller schools forced to amalgamate/join MATs in reality I think, as school funding simply won't support schools with less than 30 pupils per teacher, unfortunately.

What small schools can do is federate. A few I know have kept one village school for infants and the nearby village school becomes a junior. They have one Head and one deputy. This way, nothing closes but leaves room for expansion if houses are built. Obviously young children from village A are transported to village B and this was perceived as a problem to begin with. However keeping both schools open was the greater prize. These schools are expanding and one Head for the combined school is working.

The big stumbling block with schools is that the C of E schools just will not federate with others unless they 'convert' them. So entrenched views cost everyone a lot of money. Our local formula paid a small schools allowance for increased running costs, mostly staff, and it costs money that is effectively taken from other children in the LA. There needs to be some insistence that small schools that are just a short distance from each other must federate.

If they were given the choice between federating with a non c of e or closing you'd think they'd federate.

OP, does the school actually say that the staff are leaving because of funding cuts?
The reason I ask is that from my perspective, there is no way that a school of that size can make the figures add up for 4 teachers and TAs and be financially viable. So I think the more honest answer is not funding cuts (because there have actually not been any, only higher levels of expected expenditure) but reality setting in that the school cannot balance its books financially because they have to many staff.

If there are going to be higher levels of expected expenditure with the same funds there will be less money available, so it might be the straw that has broken the camels back.