Angry parents took their protest over job cuts at a £50m super school to a governors’ meeting. Blaenau Gwent Council today confirmed governors have agreed to proceed to set up a redundancy panel but would try to avoid compulsory redundancies.
As many as 50 parents and children with placards protested outside Abertillery Learning Community (ALC) which is threatening to cut 15 lof the 60 learning support posts and carryng out a staff review.
Parents said teaching assistants are vital to their children’s education and they are worried about what they say is a lack of stability at the school, which opened in 2016 and was placed in Estyn monitoring last year after a poor first inspection.
Labour parliamentary prospective candidate for Blaenau Gwent Nick Smith who joined the protest, said he has been told by Blenau Gwent Council that the school’s deficit is now around £300,000.
He said he has also been told by the council that it is intervening in the school because it is subject to a “warning notice to improve”.
“I’ve written to the council five separate times about this, the responses are unsatisfactory and I’m still looking for answers,” he added.
“The strength of feeling around this is very clear. I’ve spoken with concerned parents in my Brynmawr office and was invited to the demonstration by them.”
Nurse Jenna Coles, whose sons Rio, 10 and Zain, six, attend the Six Bells Campus part of the superschool, said she was at the protest because she is worried about cuts,
“Teaching assistants are important in every class. How can one teacher manage a class of more than 30 primary age pupils?
“If these TAs go the children won’t have the support they need.
“I have concerns about the way the school has been run since it opened. There is no consistency.”
Jenna, who works at Neville Hall Hospital, said she is considering sending Rio to a high school outside her catchment because she is so worried about poor standards in the secondary years of the school.
Lindsay Edwards, whose son Georgie, five,has one to one help from a TA at lunchtime because he has problems swallowing, said: “We don’t know which TAs are going but all of them are important. I went to the protest because I wanted to support the fantastic work of our TAs.”
Kelsa Davies, who went to the demo with her children, Hope and Logan, both six, said parents are angry and worried about their children’s education.
“They could have budgeted better. I think they had more money than sense with this new building. Our children will suffer because of bad budgeting.”
As well as looking at axing TA posts ALC, which has 1,500 pupils aged three to 16, has said there is an ongoing review of teaching across all its campuses.
Three senior teachers are leaving at the end of this term and the school has had five head teachers in the three years it has been open.
New head Meryl Echeverry , took up her post after half term after the interim head Jonathan Wilson stepped down. The salary for the new post was advertised at between £92,135 and £106,709.
Parents said they wanted to take their protest directly to governors because they are not getting any answers about the management and finances of the school.
They say the primary schools, which became part of the super school, were performing better and had stable budgets when they were separate.
Dave Rees, Blaenau Gwent branch chairman for trade union Unison, which represents all 15 teaching assistants affected, said it showed the strength of feeling that so may people came out to support them on a wet, cold night for the protest on December 10.
He criticised governors for not letting protesters inside the reception area of the Six Bells campus on a wet night until the very end of the meeting.
He said he is still trying to obtain a list of the school’s governors. None are listed on the school’s website. Requests for a list of school governors have also been made on several occasions by WalesOnline.
“Once again I am disappointed with the way the local education authority and school have handled this,” he said.
In a letter to Blaenau Gwent Council Labour parliamentary prospective candidate for the constituency Mr Smith laid out concerns of the parents he has spoken to.
ALC opened in September 2016 after the amalgamation of Abertillery Comprehensive School, Abertillery, Bryngwyn, Roseheyworth and Queen Street primary schools.
Blaenau Gwent Council did not respond to requests for a list of the school's governors or confirmation of the school's deficit.
A spokesman l said in a statement: “ALC is continuing with its review of the number of teaching assistants which is based on a national model, and staff have all been fully consulted and engaged with the process.
"The governing body has now agreed to proceed to the next step of the process which is to establish a redundancy panel. The governing body is committed to working with staff and trade unions in order to explore all available options and avoid compulsory redundancies where possible.
"Schools often review staffing structures and these changes will not impact on the high educational standards and opportunities offered to our children and young people in Abertillery. There will be no impact to additional learning needs provision as has been suggested.
"With a new permanent headteacher and a strengthened enthusiastic governing body, the ALC has an exciting vision for improvement and its pupils will continue to enjoy the very best teaching from our talented staff now and in the future. We are looking forward to working with the whole school community to take the school forward."
