UNCERTAINTY surrounding the future of St Luke’s School must be clarified as soon as possible to avoid pupils missing out on more of their education, according to a trade union.

The GMB has thrown its weight behind concerns raised over the number of staff at the special needs school which closed last month.

Almost half of pupils have been missing lessons for nearly four weeks, as the school has been partially closed, with many other youngsters being transferred to other schools or receiving work packs to complete at home.

The sudden closure of St Luke’s, which educates pupils with a range of behavioural and educational needs, was based on the recommendation of the White Horse Federation, who have been given permission to take over the school, after members expressed safety concerns.

A point of contention was the restructuring of staffing in the last academic year, with the number of teachers and teaching assistants in classrooms reportedly reduced.

Nearly half the school’s teachers – 13 out of 30 – reportedly left, among them the head, – who left for a promotion under a different local authority – the deputy and the most senior teaching assistant.

GMB regional organiser Carole Vallelly criticised the Interim Executive Board, which has been running the school since it went special measures in November, for failing to fill 10 teaching assistant vacancies.

“The staff at St Luke’s are amongst the most dedicated and skilled professionals that you could ever hope to meet,” she said. “It is only the extraordinary level of commitment from these staff, that has allowed the school to operate while working in incredibly difficult circumstances, providing high quality support for their pupils.

“The reorganisation and redundancies were subject to a formal consultation, following legal process, and GMB is shocked that the commitments given to us in that process by the governing body were reneged upon before the ink was even dry, and without notifying the unions of their intention.

“Having failed to fill the required posts identified in the re-organisation plan and following some staff turnover and sickness, when the school reopened in September there simply weren’t enough staff,” she said.

“GMB believes the inadequate staffing numbers put pupils and staff at risk,” she said.

“GMB does, however, acknowledge that Swindon Borough Council has now committed to the necessary recruitment of staff, and has put the finance in place to ensure it happens.

“Secondly, GMB recognises that both Swindon Borough Council, and the IEB, are themselves in a difficult situation.

“After the school went into special measures, the Regional School Commissioner nominated the White Horse Federation as the named sponsor for St Luke’s to convert to an academy.

“GMB believes that this has created an unnecessary roadblock, as the federation have been inserted into the process, constricting the options open to Swindon Borough Council. Yet White Horse Federation is not due to take over the school until January.

“GMB believes that in the interests of the pupils, parents and staff, the uncertainty of who is running the school needs to be ended as soon as possible.”

The GMB’s concerns come just a day after Labour criticised the council for not acting sooner in what has been a “preventable” incident after council bosses scrabbled around to hire five new members of staff last week.

It is hoped the boost, along with the continued efforts from council chiefs, will see pupils return to St Luke’s following the half term.

However, Labour believe the situation should have been avoided in the first place.

“The situation St Luke’s is really tragic for its pupils and families and what annoys me most is that this is entirely preventable.

“It is unacceptable that pupils have lost school learning time because Swindon Council has failed to ensure the school has the necessary staff to run the school.

“However the time it has taken for the Federation to take over the school has left the St Luke’s in limbo with a leadership vacuum in the school. This is not a good advert for the government’s academies programme.

Labour’s shadow lead for education, Coun Carol Shelley, said: “The time for excuses needs to be over. The council need as a matter of urgency to recruit a new head teacher to lead the school.

“And if St Luke’s is to be transferred to the White Horse Federation then it needs to be done as a matter urgency also. No more excuses, this is our children’s education we are talking about.”

Dr Nick Capstick, the CEO of the White Horse Federation, said: “Whenever a school receives a Grade 4 Inadequate grade by Ofsted, it has to join an academy chain.

“The White Horse Federation were named as the appropriate academy trust for St Luke’s by the Regional Schools Commissioner, and we have been engaged in due diligence around a range of aspects, including education and finance, that we are required to do as part of establishing whether WHF and St Luke’s would be a good fit.

“The local authority has approached us to undertake interim management of school, via a Service Level Agreement, and we are taking a joint approach to providing stable leadership and improvement to the school.

“Today we met with the local authority and staff at the school. We hope to be able to make an announcement on that in the next few weeks.”

Coun Fionuala Foley, Cabinet member for Children’s Services and School Attainment, said: “We are continuing talks with the White Horse Federation and we have recruited two new members of staff in addition to the five members of staff last week - that takes us up to seven members of staff.

"We are hoping within the next few weeks we will have some positive news about the way forward.”