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Moray primary overcomes staff shortages threat

Alves primary parent councillor Joanna Cockburn and head teacher James Mcleman
Alves primary parent councillor Joanna Cockburn and head teacher James Mcleman

Staff at a Moray village school went “above and beyond” their usual duties when it was threatened with closure due to the ongoing teacher shortage.

Alves Primary School was thrown into chaos when its primary three and four teacher went on maternity leave and no replacement could be found.

Head teacher James McLeman returned to the classroom full-time, the remaining teachers juggled their own responsibilities to take on extra lessons and classroom assistants worked extra hard to provide continuity for pupils facing a series of different supply teachers.

Now the team have been presented with a monument from the school’s parent council to mark the Herculean effort they made to ensure the children’s education was not disrupted.

A plaque engraved with the slogan “from little acorns mighty oaks grow” will be attached to an oak tree, to be planted in the school’s outdoor learning area.

Mr McLeman said everyone had played their part in ensuring the school’s three composite classes did not suffer as a result of the teaching crisis.

“We advertised twice for maternity cover, with zero applicants responding,” he said.

“We still had to make sure classes were covered, so we were using supply as much as possible and I was teaching full-time for a good while on top of my normal responsibilities.

“At times we had a new supply teacher coming in almost every day, and the support staff went well beyond their remit to ensure the children had some consistency.

“It was a great relief when support for learning teacher Erin Fraser volunteered to become a class teacher four days a week – but what we are doing isn’t sustainable.”

Parent council chairwoman Joanna Cockburn said: “The staff really went above and beyond.

“Legally, without sufficient teaching staff they would not have been able to keep it open and that would have had a huge effect on parents and pupils.

“We are a small school of 55 pupils, and the staff really stepped up to the plate to provide the children with continuity.”

Earlier this month Moray Council announced that teaching shortages in the area had reached such extremes that there was a risk children would be sent home with no-one to take classes.

Since then education chiefs have been working on ways to resolve the situation.