Teacher redundancy decision due at St Neots Community College next week

HUNDREDS of pupils at a St Neots school who petitioned to save their favourite teachers from redundancy will find out next week if they have been successful. Five hundred students signed a petition after teaching staff at St Neots Community College were

HUNDREDS of pupils at a St Neots school who petitioned to save their favourite teachers from redundancy will find out next week if they have been successful.

Five hundred students signed a petition after teaching staff at St Neots Community College were asked to take voluntary redundancy.

Up to five teaching jobs are on the line and 100 hours of teaching assistant time. But the school has said if enough members of staff volunteer then compulsory redundancies will not be necessary.

In a statement to The Hunts Post yesterday (Tuesday), vice principal Scott Preston said the consultation was continuing with a final decision expected next week.

He said: "The constitution process regarding this situation is still ongoing. Naturally when completed, the staff must be the first to know the results. After this, and hopefully next week, we will be able to convey this information to the press."

The news of redundancies spurred pupils into action, fearing their favourite teachers would leave.

Year 9 pupil, Kirdi Fenna felt so passionate about saving the school's isolation worker, Clare Smith, she started a petition to save her.

In just a few days 14-year-old Kirdi collected 500 signatures from fellow students and presented it to the college's principal Eueth Forrester.

Ms Smith's role is funded by the Government's Department for Children, Schools and Families and the school is said to be looking into ways of paying for her.

St Neots Community College has debts of about �800,000 built up over two years and has been placed in special measures by Ofsted which found standards unsatisfactory.