Parents furious as kids are forced to REPEAT a year because primary school can’t afford to replace teacher
Four children at Long Melford Primary School in Sudbury, Suffolk now have to resit Year 3 because funding cuts created split year groups to manage class numbers
PRIMARY school kids are being held back a year because their school can't afford to employ any more teachers.
Year Four pupils at Long Melford Primary School in Sudbury, Suffolk, are being forced to resit Year 3 after funding cuts meant that a teacher who left couldn't be replaced.
Instead, four kids will be moved down a year as the school bring in split-year groups in a bid to manage class numbers.
But parents of the pupils affected have blasted the move, which they say has singled their children out and could put them at risk of being bullied.
RELATED STORIES
Jane Brown, whose daughter Rose, nine, will be forced down a year, told the : "My daughter says, 'I'm not good enough to be in my year group.'
"The children have been really affected by it.
"It's all down to the school not having enough funds to bring in another teacher to keep an extra class.
"One of the teachers left before September and they couldn't afford to get another teacher so they have had to merge."
Long Melford became an academy in April after it was put into special measures in August last year, where it was branded 'inadequate'.
Parents were told of the changes before the October half-term, which happened because the Year 5 class had too many pupils.
Seven of them had to put into Year 4, which then became overcrowded and pushed four more pupils down a year.
Parents have since written to Ofsted about the move, after receiving no response from letters sent to head teacher Amanda Woolmer or the head of governors.
Mrs Brown added: "The head promised they would be given Year 4 work but they haven't been and my daughter is now in the same class as my son Archie which isn't ideal.
"We've had meetings but feel we've been fobbed off."
The school is part of the St Edmondsbury and Upswich Diocesan Multi Academy Trust, who say that kids benefit from being taught in classes of an optimum size.
The Trust's director of education told the : "At Long Melford three classes of 19, 27 and 37 were re-arranged this term to ensure that they were more even-sized, to 23, 30 and 30.
"Parents of children who were moving classes were given the opportunity to make an appointment to discuss with the head teacher.
"Teachers of mixed-age classes are used to setting homework that is appropriate for the age range.
"The school's main priority is to provide the best possible education for all its pupils and to organise classes to maximise learning."
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368