Several members of teaching and support staff at Sandown Bay Academy were informed this week that their jobs may be at risk.
OnTheWight understands the Academy are seeking to axe a total of seven and a half teaching posts and three and a half support posts.
The Academy, which went into Special Measures in March this year, was heavily criticised by the Ofsted Inspector for providing an inadequate quality of teaching, but a spokesperson for the sponsor, AET, has said the changes are needed because the school reorganisation left the Academy with too many teachers.
The timetable for change
OnTheWight has seen a copy of the consultation timetable which reveals the Governing Body approved the proposed redundancies at the beginning of May.
The consultation will run until 7th June and staff will be informed of the outcome of the consultation on 24th June.
According to the paperwork, formal dismissal meetings will take place on 18th July when, where necessary, redundancy notices will be issued.
The last day for employment for any teaching staff subject to redundancy will be 31 December 2013.
Improvements are underway
The latest report from Ofsted since the Academy went into Special Measures shows there has been improvement in many areas and that the school is on course to see an improvement in GCSE results this summer.
AET say that they hope that staff will consider voluntary redundancy or job share.
Mike Barnett from AET told OnTheWight,
“The proposed reorganisation is to bring staffing costs within budgets that will be driven by a planned decline in future student numbers, as well as to ensure that the restructured Academy can better meet their educational needs in the future.
“Currently the school needs to reduce the number of teaching posts by 7.5 and support staff by 3.5. With anticipated staffing requests for voluntary redundancy, job sharing and more flexible hour working these numbers are expected to reduce. There is a current staff complement of over 300.
“Secondary reorganisation on the Island saw the size of the school rise dramatically from 1550 in 2010 to nearly 2,100 the next year. The optimum number for the site is around 1500 and this is expected to be achieved by 2016, mainly through a decline of student numbers in the area and thereby a significant reduction in the budget.
“Until the period of consultation is over, Friday 7 June, and staff have had the opportunity to state their intentions we can not say where any possible compulsory redundancies may occur.”
Image: Todd Binger under CC BY 2.0
