Chagford Primary School parents met yesterday to discuss ways of persuading DMAT to abandon the staffing restructure proposal.

The meeting follows on from the news that DMAT is considering a major staffing restructure across the trust’s schools and was organised by  concerned Chagford parent Earl Banner to address parents’ concerns and suggest effective ways of opposing DMAT's plan.

At the meeting, parents discussed the possibility of writing individual letters to the trust to explain how DMAT's proposed staffing restructure would negatively impact their child and other means of opposing the changes such as picketing.

A representative from Chagford Primary School’s board of stakeholders also attended the meeting at which she provided parents with the definitive facts about the restructuring in order to quell fears and combat rumours.

She explained that the staffing restructure was not a foregone conclusion yet as the proposed restructure would first have to be approved by DMAT’s board of trustees.

It was also confirmed that the trust was currently in a consultation phase, which is due to end on May 15, and that all staff who may be affected by the proposed changes have been contacted including several senior employees.

At the end of March, news broke that the DMAT’s restructuring could lead to up to nearly two-thirds of teaching assistants losing their jobs with teaching assistants limited to Reception and Key Stage 1 (Years One and Two) classes.

The restructuring could also see a small reduction in the number of teaching staff, reduced administration roles in schools, a reduction in the number of technicians across the three secondary schools run by DMAT (Okehampton, Tavistock and Holsworthy) and the removal of both the school improvement officer and the director of civic responsibility roles.

Read more about the meeting in next week's Times