Mass exodus of teaching staff at Future Academies primary which was chosen as face of government’s post-lockdown communications drive

A primary academy which was chosen as the face of the re-opening of English classrooms last month has been dealing with a mass exodus of staff.

Millbank Primary Academy in Westminster, central London has already seen six of its teaching staff leave this academic year, with another five having handed in their resignations and due to leave by July, Education Uncovered understands. In addition, last week another teacher left, I have been told.

These 11 teachers leaving during the year constitute a very high turnover for this two-form-entry school, which government records state had 26 teachers as of 2019-20. As this website has also reported, Millbank will move onto its eighth headteacher in five years when current leader Kate Jefferson departs next month.

Millbank also appears to have had a chequered record on covid mitigation, with changes to safety procedures in the playground in the autumn seemingly only having come after sources close to the school had raised concerns with this website.

And yet this was the academy, which is part of the Conservative peer Lord Nash’s trust Future Academies, which was singled out from nearly 17,000 primaries across England for government-backed media coverage on how schools could emerge from remote learning.