SCHOOLS in East Lancashire are shrinking staff levels to deal with falling pupil numbers and finances, it has been revealed.

A total of 20.5 teaching staff are being made redundant or are not being replaced at Colne Primet High School and Rhyddings Business and Enterprise School, Oswaldtwistle.

It is understood that at Colne Primet there will be 14 fewer members of staff at the school.

There will be three voluntary redundancies, six staff will be leaving and will not be replaced, four will be retiring and there will be one compulsory redundancy.

At Rhyddings Business 6.5 positions will be lost, one through voluntary redundancy.

The other staff will not be replaced after securing jobs elsewhere.

The National Union of Teachers, NUT, has blamed the coalition government’s funding cuts, academy and free school schemes for the job cuts.

Academies are funded by the state and are free from local authority control.

They are in charge of their own finances, curriculum and admissions.

Free schools are new schools that are also state funded but take children out of mainstream schools.

Rhyddings headteacher Paul Trickett said: “This is a one-off answer to an over-staffing problem due to falling pupil numbers, which then has implications on finances.

“But we are still offering the same high standards of education to produce the best results.”

Janet Walsh, headteacher at Colne Primet, said: “Like many other schools we are experiencing falling pupil numbers.

“As you would expect this means that we need to reduce our staff team.

“Fourteen staff members are leaving the school at the end of summer term, of whom four are retiring, six are moving to other jobs and three are taking voluntary redundancy to explore career options outside teaching.

“One part-time teacher in an overstaffed area of the curriculum is regrettably being made compulsorily redundant.”

Sam Uddin, NUT, Lancashire secretary, said: “Under the government’s policy of introducing free schools and allowing academies, more and more powers are being taken away from Lancashire County Council.

Bob Stott, the council's director with responsibility for schools, said: “Our human resources team work closely alongside schools on many staffing matters.”