Unions issue warning over claims of 'high staff turnover' at "outstanding" Preston primary school

The National Education Union (NEU) and UNISON told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that only one of the permanent class teachers who was working at Eldon Primary School in July 2021 was still in post as of December last year.

The school declined to comment on the claims – but the LDRS understands that it strongly disputes the unions’ figures.

However, union representatives say that the scale of staff departures at the 250-pupil facility risks undoing the strides which saw it achieve the top Ofsted grading following its last inspection in 2017 – and undermines the “consistency” that children need after the disruption caused to education by the pandemic.

In seeking to verify the assertion made by the NEU and UNISON, the LDRS used an internet archive service to compare the school’s “Who’s Who” page of staff members from late July 2021, with the same section as it appears now.

Of the eight individuals listed as teachers across the nursery, reception and year 1-6 classes 18 months ago, only one – the now deputy headteacher – remains on the page today.

The names of those who have disappeared in the interim correspond with those on a separate list provided to the LDRS, which purports to detail teacher and other staff exits over the same period as that covered by the union.

The source of that information claims that five teaching assistants and a learning mentor also left the Eldon Street facility between the summer of 2021 and December 2022, with a sixth teaching assistant due to do so at the end of last term. Again, all of the names supplied match those which no longer feature on the staff page of the website, having done so in the archived version from July 2021.

The LDRS understands that a further 10 teaching assistants employed by the school in 2021 continue to work there – the longest-serving of whom has clocked up over 26 years in their role.

The two unions have made no specific claims about the reasons for the staff turnover rate, focussing instead on what they regard as its potential consequences.

The Lancashire County Council-maintained school issued farewells to seven staff – who were either teachers, teaching assistants or learning mentors – in an end-of-term letter to parents in July 2022. Four of those were revealed to have secured jobs elsewhere and one was returning to study. All were given the school’s good wishes for the future.

In the same letter, seven appointments of teachers or teaching assistants were announced – and the school currently has no outstanding roles advertised in the jobs section of its website. But NEU Lancashire branch secretary Sarah Troughton says that vacancies will become more difficult to fill if they continue to arise at the rate they have over the past 18 months.

“Given the current, ongoing crisis in the recruitment and retention of both teaching and non-teaching staff across education, we are worried that it’s only a matter of time before the school finds itself unable to replace staff who leave – and that this will start to impact on the children at the school.

“Other schools in the area do not have anything like the same turnover, but senior leaders and some on the governing body at Eldon seem unprepared to face up to the issues at the school and work with staff and their representatives in addressing them.

“Ofsted recognised the efforts of the staff at Eldon and their success in supporting pupils. All that good work is now being undermined by a high turnover of staff, at a time when pupils need consistency.

“The staff at Eldon are deeply committed to doing their best for the children at the school. Our worry is that this will become ever more difficult if the turnover of staff continues the way it has been”, Ms. Troughton added.

Mark Evans, UNISON’s school convenor and non-teaching staff representative for the area, echoed the NEU’s concerns.

“It’s critical that pupils at Eldon Primary are given the opportunity to get the best education. With so many staff leaving, the opportunities to build relationships with pupils and support learning are being denied.

“We hope the school leadership quickly recognise the urgent need to work with staff and their trade unions to prevent further decline,” Mr. Evans added.

Under the leadership of headteacher Azra Butt for over 13 years, Eldon Primary has gone from “satisfactory” in the view of Ofsted inspectors to the “outstanding” rating it was given by the education watchdog just over five years ago.

Its 2017 report on the school said that “leaders have a clear and strong vision which enables them to provide the best possible education for all pupils, and which all members of staff fully embrace”.

The “rich” curriculum, quality of teaching and “impeccable” behaviour of pupils were all praised, while inspectors also highlighted how the headteacher, senior leaders and governors led and managed the school “highly effectively”, supported by “a team of staff who lead their areas of responsibility extremely well”.

The school has also won a raft of awards – including ‘Primary School of the Year’ in the prestigious TES [Times Educational Supplement] School Awards in 2018. The Lancashire Post bestowed the same accolade on the establishment four years in a row between 2015 and 2018 in the paper’s own local education awards.

In both 2018 and 2019, Eldon Primary was heralded ‘Most Inspirational Primary School’ in the Northwest Educate Awards and most recently, in November, was shortlisted for four gongs at the 2022 event, ultimately scooping the Innovative and Creative Literacy Award.

The NEU and UNISON say that they have been “frustrated” in their attempts to have their concerns about staff turnover taken on board – in spite of raising them with both Eldon Primary’s governing body and County Hall.

A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said that the authority was “aware of the national issue and challenges facing recruitment and retention of staff across many educational establishments, including some in Lancashire, and are working with schools to support them”.