Pupils at Astrea academy face super-sized classes as trust struggles to cope with teacher exodus

The "Astrea Ascent" behaviour policy, as displayed in its schools.

Pupils at a school within the controversial academy chain Astrea faced class sizes of up to 90 as managers struggled to replace teachers who departed at Christmas amid exasperation at its super-centralised management techniques, Education Uncovered has learnt.

And Longsands Academy in Cambridgeshire could soon be facing strike action, as a combination of unhappiness with its leadership and last-minute changes to the school’s timetable have led the National Education Union to ballot members.

The background

Education Uncovered has been carrying stories about the 26-school Astrea Academy Trust, which runs schools in Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire, since last March. At St Ivo, a comprehensive in St Ives in Cambridgeshire, hundreds of parents complained about curriculum changes and a strict behaviour regime which some argued was making their children anxious, while teachers warned of centrally-designed teaching stipulations including by-the-minute lesson directives and instructions to move items including lined paper from the front of classrooms.

At Astrea Academy Woodfields, in Doncaster, a parent told of her child’s extreme distress over the school’s strict policy on access to toilets.