Rally around St Sampson’s High team, says Education

Education, Sport & Culture president Andrea Dudley-Owen issued a statement following yesterday’s story about parents raising concerns about the stability of staffing at the school, which they said was affecting their children’s learning.

Education was unhappy at references to ‘staff shortages’ when it said there were only three teaching vacancies at the school, in specialist subjects.

Deputy Dudley-Owen admitted that teacher recruitment was a challenge.

But she added: ‘I have every confidence that Mrs Godley and her leadership team are doing all they can to manage the situation.’

She said it would be beneficial to students and the school community to focus on supporting Mrs Godley and her whole team of staff to make the necessary improvements, following last summer’s damning Ofsted inspection.

Deputy Dudley-Owen said improvements were being made, but there were staffing challenges.

‘The school – again like others locally and further afield – is having to manage challenges around staff sickness and a well-publicised shortage of supply teachers, which we are actively and creatively trying to resolve,’ she said.

‘This does sometimes lead to students having an unavoidable lack of teacher consistency, and the school is doing all it can to overcome this.’

She said parents with concerns should engage with the school’s senior leadership team.

The parents, which raised the concerns, have children in Year 11, who will sit their GCSEs in the summer.

Deputy Dudley-Owen said the school ran revision sessions.

‘I do understand that any interruption to students’ learning, especially at this time, is very concerning and can reassure the school community that the senior leadership team and the Education Office are working hard to overcome these staffing challenges.’

Secondary School Partnership executive principal Liz Coffey said she rejected the suggestion that the high school was letting pupils down.

With staff illnesses, staff from across the partnership are being used to support the high schools.

‘Running a school is a complex and often thankless task, but St Sampson’s, under the new senior leadership team brought in to support the principal, has made significant strides in many areas since the recent Ofsted inspection, and we will be providing a detailed update to parents on this in January.’

Both women said that parents who were unhappy should raise concerns with the senior leadership team and be prepared to escalate those concerns should they be unhappy with the response received.