Teachers to lose jobs in Wolverhampton school refit

Ten teaching jobs and nine staff roles will go from Deansfield Community School, where a Building Schools For The Future (BSF) redevelopment is planned.

It was one of a number of sites in Wolverhampton benefiting from £270million of government funding.

The Express & Star understands that staff at the Dean's Road school were told of the job losses last month.

The school currently employs 113 staff and educates children from ages 11 to 19.

Work is due to start on the school later this year, with the project set to be completed by 2015.

Councillor Phil Page, Wolverhampton City Council's cabinet member for schools in the city, said today that the job losses were 'sad' news.

He said: "It's always sad when someone is made redundant, and goes against all the principles I stand for.

"However, the board of governors have to balance the budgets, and in these economic times, these are the challenging decisions we have to make.

"Deansfield is a popular school with students but also the local community. Its recent exam results were above the national average, which goes to show just how well it is developing as a school.

"It has come as a bit of a surprise. I knew that there were talks about posts at the school but I wasn't aware of anything that was concrete. It is now the job of the council to make sure that these staffing loses don't affect the school's current success. It is our responsibility to monitor its progress.

Councillor Page added: "I'm not aware of any other school in Wolverhampton considering any other staffing loses, and my experience of schools in the city is that they haven't had to resort to this due to financial difficulties."

Wolverhampton City Council has yet to comment on the job losses.

In the past, the school has been commended for exam results by government regulatory body Ofsted.

In 2008 less than 25 per cent of GCSE candidates achieved five or more passes including English and maths at grades A*-C. By 2011 this was turned around to 51 per cent.

Headteacher Dean Coombes said at the time: "The students and staff have been outstanding ,and I am very proud of all of them. I am delighted our good work has been recognised."

In January the next wave of the £270m transformation of secondary schools in Wolverhampton was launched.

The scheme aims to build new schools with old schools being transformed. The aim is also for ICT to become more integral to students.

Phase three of the BSF programme will see £57m spent on rebuilds or refurbishments. The schools involved are Aldersley High, New Park, North East Wolverhampton Academy, Penn Hall, Smestow, St Peter's Collegiate and Wolverhampton Girls' High School, plus Westcroft Sports and Vocational College.

In 2011 council bosses decided they were to rebuild Deansfield High School using the private finance initiative.