TEACHER trade unions have hit out at the staffing process for the new all-through Dolgellau school set to open in September, after it was revealed that “experienced” teachers could lose their jobs.

The reorganisation of Dolgellau-area education by Gwynedd Council will see five schools closed and the new Welsh-medium 3 to 16 Ysgol Bro Idris school based at the sites of six current schools.

Unions called for teachers and staff to retain their jobs within the new structure, which will see over £4m spent on building and renovation works.

Neil Foden of NUT and Sion Amlyn of NASUWT, in a joint letter, asked for answers from the council and the governing body over how the appointment process has been handled - saying there is “continuing disquiet” over both the consultation on the school’s staffing requirements and the manner in which appointments are being managed.

They have called for a “thorough review of the process” to “take action to protect the teachers now facing redundancy by actively seeking to find alternative employment for them”.

“Some experienced candidates have been rejected for jobs and have been given feedback on their interviews but none on their teaching or applications. This has left members feeling that their experience and teaching ability has been ignored.”

The unions said that while “there has been an acknowledgement from the local authority that there are lessons to be learnt”, they “appear to have been learnt very late in the process and good, experienced teachers may well be lost as a consequence”.

But Ysgol Bro Idris chair of governors Helen Jones said they were confident that the appointment process had been conducted in a fair and professional manner.

Read the full story in today’s Meirionnydd edition of the Cambrian News