Last night the teaching staff and support workers at Cowes Enterprise College (CEC) were called into a meeting where an HR consultant told them of a proposal for massive job cuts.
OnTheWight has been informed, by a number of sources, that 26 support staff will be cut – equating to 40% of the support staff. Roles such as Teaching Assistants and SEN support.
This 40% cut excludes the staff working in IT, catering and the cleaners.
Those that would be left will be asked to take considerable pay cuts, dropping from pay level four down to level one – that’s a change of £17,000 to £12,000.
Teachers and management also to be cut
It’s proposed that five teacher posts will be cut, and OnTheWight understands middle management roles will be affected (the details of this are awaiting confirmation from the HR consultant).
Those with higher positions will be asked to shift to ‘Leadership’ roles, where they will have to take on significant extra work and the hours worked will have no contractual limit.
Head of Governors
“It’s not something that we’ve wanted to do, but it is necessary”, Rachel Fidler, head of the Governing body told OnTheWight, “It’s a consultation and we will listen to what is suggested.”
Addressing the question raised by teacher of the delays Rachel Fidler said:
“We’ve been working with the local authority to ensure that funds are in place – to cover early retirement and voluntary redundancy. Last week we reached an agreement, so there has been some delay in bringing the detail to the staff.”
Teacher: “Morale has hit rock bottom”
Unsurprisingly staff at the school tell us, “Morale has hit rock bottom.” “It’s such a shame,” they said, “just at a time when we were trying to get out of Special Measures and improvements were being made.”
The timing couldn’t have been worse as Ofsted started a two-day inspection yesterday (Thursday).
Support needed from parents
“We really need the support of the parents and the community”, OnTheWight was told.
“We are here for the pupils – in spite of what is being done to us,” the concluded.
Updated 13:49: Added comments by Rachel Fidler.
