How many teachers tend to leave at the end of the school year?

[SundayNightBluesAreHere]

If your child attends, or you work in a primary school of approximately 600 pupils, how many teachers tend to leave each year?

There seems to be an influx of teachers leaving my DC’s school this year and I’m just wondering what is usual. Many parents are concerned about certain matters and I’m beginning to wonder if there are wider issues.

DSs school, on average 2 teachers a year, though have been people retiring.
My school, none this year but 4 at the end of last year.

3 at my kids school (2 form entry, but 20 kids per class), which seems higher than usual - 2 have gone on promotion and one leaving teaching.

How long is a piece of string?

Teachers can leave for all manner of reasons:- relocation, promotion, secondment, maternity leave, unhappy at previous school, just fancied a change of scenery, leaving the profession for a career change, retirement etc. Some years, hardly anyone leaves. Other years, it can feel like quite a lot. It may just be a coincidence, or it may suggest a lot of unhappiness and unrest behind the scenes. The most usual reasons for a massive exodus are a bad Ofsted, or new management coming in with new ideas/ways which don't align with the beliefs of the current staff (or new management who clearly want to bring their own people in, so make working conditions as rubbish as possible for existing staff to encourage them to jump ship). With budgets so shockingly low now, it's sadly not that uncommon for teachers who are on better wages (which reflect their years of experience) to be hounded out so they can be replaced by cheaper ECTs. 😥

Obviously it depends how many you mean when you say 'an influx' are leaving? In a school of that size, even 4 or 5 leaving at the same time may not be that noticeable (unless they're all leaving from the same year groups, so the whole EYFS team, for example, is changing). However, in a small school with only 4 teachers it can make a massive difference to the dynamics if even one leaves, let alone two or more at the same time.

When you say parents are concerned, do you mean simply about the amount of teachers leaving in one hit, or were there concerns before that which are now seemingly being founded by the amount of teachers who now want out?

That's a very large primary school- must be 4-form entry? In my experience, the smaller the school, the lower the percentage of teachers that leave. If your DCs' school is an academy, they may employ a lot of young teachers who are cheap enough to be able to move on/ there isn't the stability of an established staff. In my experience of a 3-form entry school, you can't ever fit the whole school in the hall/ it's a big building and you lose the essence of a primary school.

At my four form entry usually one, sometimes two. This year for a variety of reasons it's three. One is an ECT who has decided teaching isn't for her. That's the same reason one left last year.

Is that a three form entry school?
I think that I wouldn’t be at all surprised if 4 or 5 left a year and it might well be higher if it was a year or two after a change of HT or other management change. Plus there will be anomalies where staff are coming up to retirement or staff might relocate which will be in addition to those looking to leave for promotion, to build their CV or because they don’t like the atmosphere.

It’s a 3 form entry. Converted to an academy in a religious trust a couple of years ago. Headteacher left to be the CEO of said trust. Deputy head took over.

6 leaving this year (plus some TAs), 4 left last year. The majority of the staff who are leaving are long serving, some having been there 10+ years. A mix from year groups - reception, year 3, year 5, year 6, pastoral, PE.

3 have already left mid way through the year (one for medical reasons).

Parents are concerned about behaviours not being managed/their child having continued problems with other children/SEN being missed and nothing much seems to change. Parents who have friends who do supply teaching and have worked there briefly have reported that they wouldn’t want to go back.

I work in the education field with lots of experience with rubbish leadership so I know how it can affect staff morale, but it just seems to be a shame that many of the children’s favourite teachers are leaving. I have much sympathy with them as I’ve seen the behaviours from children (and parents!) that they have to deal with every day.

Meant to add: no recent Ofsted.

Only two this year from a school of 750. One has been temporary for a couple of years though and, due to maternity leave returners etc, we no longer need them. School is pretty stable over the years - usually lose 1 to 3 classroom teachers. We're in London so younger staff sometimes move out as they can't afford to buy a home locally.

It varies hugely. I worked in a school with a crazy head and turnover there was huge, it had 10-12 classes and 3-4 people leaving each year was common (plus it was expanding to manage increasing numbers of children so they needed a new teacher every year for the extra class anyway!)

I then worked in a tiny prep where most years no one left. Then one year 4 or 5 left the same time but that was extremely unusual!

None leaving this year from 450 person primary (R-yr6) One TA retiring, and the school counsellor moving on (had been there a very long time). Also one maternity leave.

Last year they lose one teacher, and another was on mat leave.

I would try to look at why they are leaving - we only have one teacher going this year but that is maternity leave so they will be back.
Last year 1 went on maternity, 1 was on a temporary contract and they no longer needed them and 1 person retired.
Schools sometimes have phases where people do all go - this can be due to age (retirement or maternity/leaving to be with own family), change of leadership or promotions elsewhere.

None are retirement age, so doubtful. None are publicly pregnant so no maternity I don’t think. Majority of them are long standing members of staff so I’m not sure about temporary contracts. Obviously as “just” a parent, I don’t know the ins and outs.

It just seems “a lot” this year 😔

A lot of arental behaviour is terrible 😣

Apart from a couple that have retired, I can't remember and leaving my daughter's primary school and have had children there for the last 10 years.

The teachers are maybe leaving because they are expensive of they’ve been there a long time. The academy will want money spare so CEO can drive a nice car. Expensive teachers or teachers that question management respectfully about how the initiative is good for teaching and learning will be managed out.

are the TAs being replaced?

also in some schools the numbers entering Reception are falling due to lower birth rates nationally.

my gut feeling is toxic leadership.

If staff leave for “happy reasons” such as relocation, promotion, retirement I’ve often seen this mentioned in the school newsletter. If teachers/staff are jumping ship and making sideways steps to another school it all seems to be a bit more discreet. If it was so many due to “good” reasons I’d expect for you to have seen a bit of spin about it from the head via communication with parents.

Mine were at a 5 form entry juniors. I'd say 4-6 left each year. It was Ofsted outstanding and generally considered good employer.

If long standing are moving on for promotion it can be a good sign, in that they want promotion but didn't want to move sooner. Sometimes one moving can mean another then thinks "if they got promotion, then maybe I should think about it..."

The infant school mine were at one year had 4/6 of the class teachers, the secretary and 3/6 TAs leaving at the end of one year. Rumours abounded, but in reality, they all had separate good reasons for moving (one was moving to be with recently widowed mum, one was moving with her dh who was army, another was pregnant, another had promotion etc)

My kids’ one form entry has 6 leaving this year!! Only two remaining. I’m not surprised though - it’s a truly dreadful school, with appalling leadership.

I think it is more useful to look at the number of teachers rather than the number of pupils. So what percentage is that?

At my secondary, 10% turnover was common. 15% was a bad year and 5% a good year. What happened last year? Often a 5% year was followed by a 15% year.

How easily is the school recruiting? That does seem like a lot and mid year is unusual but if they bring in some strong new recruits, you may be delighted in 6 months. No one is irreplaceable.

Often it’s just life 🤷🏻‍♀️ I wouldn’t be overly concerned. Opportunities, needing a change, retirement etc all play a part like they do in any other career. Only difference might be unless the head agrees to terminate a contract early there are only 3 points in a year that teachers are allowed to leave without breaking contract. Majority do so at the end of the school year

If long term members of staff are leaving it sounds like a problem with the Academy management. Its common for them to bully out older, more expensive teachers and replace them with ECTs (it happened at my school).

the numbers of badly behaved children and parents entitlement is increasing year on year, and teaching is not as pleasant as it was ten years ago. Many teachers who have options available to them are leaving the profession.

The reality is that a lot of schools have had to make redundancies this year (I think that the Labour government have a LOT to answer for, but that's a different thread). As parents, it's not our place to know why staff are leaving unless they decide to share with us.
Has there been a change in leadership? That is a common reason for staff leaving (I'm a secondary teacher and this has always had an impact on staff retention). My daughter's primary has 5 staff leaving, but a new head started in September so I'm not surprised or concerned. They're fully staffed for September, that's the most important thing

I expected only ever worked in 1 or 2 form entry. A lot of years none leave. When some have its never been more than 2 at once and usually for a promotion or retirement.
If I were looking fir a new job it would be a huge red flag that so many were leaving