00:00Homewood school staff have dropped the pens and paper for picket lines against a threat to their livelihoods.
00:08Because of failed plans to transfer the school, which hosts nearly 2,000 pupils, to the Athletia Academies Trust, over
00:1810 jobs are now at risk.
00:21We really want to reverse the changes to Homewood. At the moment, Homewood on the 1st of September 2026 is
00:26going to be really, really different from the 1st of September 2025.
00:28We have got 13 redundancies, 6 of those are compulsory, 7 of those are voluntary. We have got 160 days
00:35of support staff hours being cut.
00:37And these are student-facing, frontline staff that are being removed, based on mismanagement from a trust that really isn't
00:43their fault.
00:44The teachers here argue that it won't be just them who will pay the price for these changes.
00:49I'm angry about the process, the horrendous process staff that are affected with possible redundancies have been through, having to
00:57defend why they should keep their job and in direct competition with their colleagues that they love and respect and
01:03admire, the same as the rest of us.
01:05The kids are going to be affected by these decisions. Increased car sizes, less support staff supporting our SEND students,
01:15our vulnerable students having less support because the people they rely on won't be there.
01:22They just won't be there to help them.
01:24We're going to lose that relationship that we've spent all these years building with them and with their parents.
01:30They're going to have to start afresh with new communities, which is really unfair, especially for our Year 10s that
01:36are going into Year 11s, because this is their main GCSE year and it's having a huge impact on them.
01:42Tenderden and Kent can expect many more cheers of protest coming from this school.
01:50The Tenderden Schools Trust has been approached for comment.
01:54Henry Luck for KMTV in Tenderden.
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