Parents trying to raise £40k to hire teacher for school

Gemma Wildig is a parent governor at the school and fears the move could lead to closure

A village in Cornwall is trying to raise £40,000 to pay for another teacher at its school.

The fundraising has been taking place for Lerryn Church of England Primary School, which has 22 pupils.

It comes after St Barnabas Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) told parents it was reducing classrooms to a one-teacher, one-class system as part of a restructure.

The MAT, which runs the school, said it had "no intention" to close the school.

'Slippery slope'

Gemma Willdig, parent governor at the school, said: "My fear is by going down to one teacher now, it's a slippery slope to closure."

The decision means from September one teacher will cover lessons for both key stage 1 and key stage 2 children, which are years 1 to 6.

The teacher will also have to cover reception and nursery children with help from two teaching assistants.

Katrine Musgrave, chair of Lerryn School Association, said people were "willing to work together with the trust to improve children numbers, help with financial roadblocks and retain the desired two class structure."

Katrine Musgrave is chair of Lerryn School Association

Following a meeting between members of the trust, parents and residents on 20 June, locals decided to try and raise £40,000 to hire a second teacher.

 A follow-up meeting will take place at Lerryn Memorial Hall on Wednesday to provide updates to the community.

The MAT said its new restructuring plan would make savings of £309,000 from current overall budgets.

"Although these savings relate to only 3.1% of our total annual budgets, we understand and sympathise with people's concerns at this difficult time," said Sean Powers, CEO of the trust.

A spokesperson for the trust said: "These savings may result in the mixing of year groups into larger classes in some of the trust's smaller schools. There is no intention of closing any school.

"It is anticipated that even with the mixing of groups, class sizes will still not exceed national averages."

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