LOOMING heavy job losses have been announced by the troubled Multi Academy Trust which oversees South Dartmoor College in Ashburton and a string of primary schools across Teignbridge.

An astonishing 74 members of staff, including teachers, are thought to have have been told their jobs could be in jeopardy – 43 of them at South Dartmoor alone.

The numbers have flabbergasted the local education community with many describing the impending cull as ‘unprecedented’ and ‘unbelievable.’

News of the massive ‘re-structuring’ programme started to leak out on Wednesday with a string of anonymous tip-offs to the press about the schools’ bombshell.

The Trust includes primary schools in Buckfastleigh, Moretonhampstead, Ilsington, Ashburton and Widecombe as well as the newly-opened Atrium Studio attached to South Dartmoor.

A spokesman for the National Education Union (NEU), formerly the NUT, confirmed the extent of the overhaul was quite phenomenal – and some redundancies were inevitable.

Joint Secretary Tim Hodge commented: ‘The Trust has a responsibility, as do we, to avoid the need for compulsory redundancies.’

Rumblings of possible job losses have been circulating for months amid complaints about Devon being unfairly treated by the share-out of funds from government purse-string holders. Falling pupil rolls in rural areas have also added to the local woes.

Mr Hodge said the ‘root and branch’ re-structuring plans were looking to reduce the number of senior managers ‘quite dramatically’ - although this did not necessarily mean they would lose their jobs. But all posts were under review, from caretakers and teaching assistants to teachers and admin staff.

‘We are totally committed to scrutinising these proposals which have been made as part of a consultation process of 30 days which ends on May 8,’ Mr Hodge revealed.

He added: ‘We will be making all sorts of suggestions, including a request for the provision of a business model to move forward.’

He conceded the surprising figures were ‘unprecedented’ for the region.

‘Given the scale of them, I doubt very much there will be no redundancies,’ he admitted.

It’s thought as many as 12 teaching jobs could go at South Dartmoor, where principal Paul Collins is currently on sick leave.

The Trust’s chief executive, Rachel Shaw, said in a statement issued this afternoon:: ‘It is with great regret that we have had to begin consultations with the staff and unions which could lead to compulsory redundancies across the schools in the South Dartmoor Multi-Academy Trust.

‘We are consulting about the loss of 50 full-time equivalent posts across the Trust - but we hope it might be fewer.

‘Like all schools, we are required to balance our books and we have exhausted other means of cutting costs such as not replacing staff who leave and reviewing all non-staff costs.’

She added: ‘Nationally, schools are campaigning for better funding of education and that campaign is particularly relevant in Devon where – because of Government funding - every pupil is worth £294 less than the national average.

‘If Devon schools were funded at the national average it would mean an extra £27 million coming into their budgets every year.

‘On top of that, schools have faced increasing costs to pay for pensions for teachers and support staff, increased National Insurance contributions and the apprenticeship levy. Headteachers have been warning of a funding crisis in our schools and we are seeing the impact of this now as schools are being forced to make tough decisions about how they can balance their budgets.

‘The consultations will be completed next month and we will then be able to be more specific about the numbers of jobs involved. In the meantime we will continue to do the very best for the children in our schools and provide the very best education we can.’

A pupil at South Dartmoor said the morale at the school had been low for some time, and it was affecting pupils.

‘It’s not unusual for teachers not to turn up for lessons,’ he complained, claiming that 60 per cent of teachers at the Balland Lane site were not even teaching their specialist subject.

One woman who didn’t want to be named, told the Mid-Devon Advertiser: ‘The numbers of jobs at risk are simply shocking. I don’t know how some schools will survive. It’s unheard of.’

She added: ‘It’s a terrible time to be told you could be losing your job. Staff at South Dartmoor were informed about the figures on Wednesday. This will have a catastrophic effect on the school.’

Another commented: ‘It’s unbelievable. I wonder how some schools can carry on. The suggested cuts are brutal...really unbelievable.’