SCHOOLS in South Gloucestershire may be facing major redundancies in the next academic year.

This is according to Dave Lawlan, former president of the South Gloucestershire National Union of Teachers (NUT), who has spoken out about the “disastrous” impact of proposed school funding cuts.

He said: “The total number of redundancies in South Gloucestershire could be well into the hundreds.

“For example, schools managed or influenced by the Olympus Trust are expecting to lose 39 teachers next academic year.

The Olympus Trust consists of Abbeywood Community School and Bradley Stoke Community School, in addition to five primary schools.

The trust also provides support for Winterbourne International Academy, who have recently been put into special measures.

However, a spokeswoman for the trust said that the figures quoted by Mr Lawlan were “misleading”.

She said: “Numbers quoted by the NUT are misleading because they include Winterbourne, Yate and Patchway schools, none of which are members of the Olympus Academy Trust.

“It is clear that this is an issue about too little funding being available to schools across the whole country. In reality all schools are facing huge cuts.”

She added that the Olympus Trust is currently in the first phase of a consultation to re-structure staffing at Abbeywood and Bradley Stoke schools, with an emphasis on "voluntary solutions".

“We cannot know the outcome of the consultation with our staff at this stage."

As part of its Stand Up for Education campaign, the National Union of Teachers has started a national and reigonal campaign to oppose school budget cuts.

A public meeting has also been organised by concerned parents in South Gloucestershire to highlight the threat posed by the "school funding crisis".

The meeting, titled Save Our Schools, will be held at 7.30pm on Thursday, April 6th at the Holiday Inn, Filton.