School staff changes

[invicta]

Does anyone else find staff changes their child's school unsettling? In ds's school, a deputy head has got promotion to another school school, and another senior member of staff has also got promotion elsewhere.

You choose a school from its reputation, academic record, staffing etc and yet by the time you start, or later, that can change. Ironically, one of the people leaving is becoming a head of one of the other schools we considered, and one reason I was hesistant about that school was because of the reputation of the existing head.

Knowing that there will be a few major leadership changes makes me wonder how the school will fare in the future. Currently it has a very good reputation - will that last?

You don't own the staff.

Let go.

Schools thrive on staff turnover. A static staff can mean that enthusiasm and innovation is lacking, that they rest on their laurels, that staff salaries take a larger part of the budget.

Younger staff can bring new research into practice and are usually very keen.

Staff moving to promoted positions is a very good thing. It means the school is developing their staff, and they can't do that without having a very positive effect on pupils.

Absolutely agree with Claire. A school that has staff who are promoted and moving onwards and upwards is a school that values professional development. This can only be good for your child.

The Government gave parents choice not control. Staff will turnover and for many, many reasons. It can be positive, although negative too - that's not usually the leaders though, more often teachers when fed up with leaders!

You need schools with a good mix of staff...most of ds's teachers are new, there's a new head and deputy and the school is thriving.
Don't worry.

At my younger DDs school they have rather a lot of deputy or assistant heads and appear to see one of their roles as developing people to go on to other schools in the future. Her school has a large turnover of staff, the most able tend to stay. In contrast my elder DDs school has very little turnover - yes it is good to have continuity - but sometimes fairly inept teachers remain in post.

I can sympathise with OP. We have been in the same situation twice: where you choose a school because of the good reputation only to find that, precisely because they are so good, the person has moved on to a more prestigious school!

There again, what can you do? Ideally, you want to be ahead of the curve; to know before anyone else (how do you do that?) that the HT is good and catch them on the rise so that your DC will benefit from their leadership before anybody else twigs and tries to lure them away. And you want this timeframe to suit all your DC. And this school is within a reasonable distance from your house.
It's not going to happen, is it?

What ClaireAll, Hassled, and Kez100 said.
Also what MrsRD and BeingFluffy said

Sound's pretty normal for a secondary school to be honest. There is always going to be some staff turnover at all levels in the school and unless there is a mass exodus of staff I wouldn't worry. The fact that the staff are leaving for promotions is a good sign.