Wolverhampton school staff are told jobs will be axed

Up to eight staff will be made redundant from St Peter's Collegiate in Wolverhampton, an announcement school bosses say has been made with 'the greatest regret'.

The redundancies will come from throughout the Compton Park school, a spokeswoman said, and not any one department.

One staff member, who did not wish to be named, said staff were expecting to find out this week whether their jobs were safe or not.

Meetings had been held about the redundancies, they said, and staff have all had letters to say their jobs are at risk.

The announcements had been 'staggered' throughout the departments, they said, and staff had been informed it was to do with financial difficulties.

Confirming the redundancies Sue Bowden, chairwoman of the board of directors, said: "It is with the greatest regret that the Board of Directors of St Peter's Collegiate School have had to consent to the principal undertaking a consultation process with staff, with the ultimate aim of reducing staffing costs to an acceptable level.

"The aim of this process is to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies.

"Like many other schools both locally and nationally, who have also had to take this course of action, the academy faces substantive financial pressures, not least from extensive increases in employer pension contributions and national insurance costs.

"It has been agreed that it is essential to respond to these pressing needs to safeguard the long-term independent financial viability of the school. This ensures that the high quality curriculum opportunities offered are maintained."

Mrs Bowden added they would like to thank all staff for their support at this difficult time.

She said: "Naturally, we will offer every support, not only to comply with all our legal obligations but to ensure staff are treated fairly and sympathetically.

"As ever, we remain committed to doing our absolute best for the future of the academy, its staff and students."

Ofsted last visited the school in 2011 and judged it to be outstanding.

Its report says students are achieving high standards in their work and making good progress, which is because of the good teaching and the high quality of pastoral support.

Earlier this year it was revealed the academy, one of the city's top performing schools, had plummeted to the bottom of the GCSE league tables after a dispute over the way results are calculated.

St Peter's Collegiate was shown as having no pupils achieving the benchmark of five A*-C grades including maths and English, meaning it dropped to 19th position in the tables down from eighth, after the Government changed the way results are recorded.

The Compton Park school entered pupils into GCSE English Literature and GCSE Combined English exams which had overlapping content.

Under new Department for Education rules, the results are therefore void when calculating the tables. Pupils' individual results were unaffected.