HALF a dozen teaching assistants at a new Didcot primary school will be made redundant following a funding cut.

Willowcroft Community School, which only opened two years ago, is to axe non front-line jobs in a bid to save money.

Headteacher Jon Gray confirmed six part-time teaching assistants would be axed before September.

In addition, the school cleaners’ working hours would be cut by eight hours a week, while dinner supervisors’ hours would be slashed by 10 hours.

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Marcus Mabberley said the teaching assistant jobs were the only redundancies.

Mr Gray blamed the cuts on so-called “start-up funding”, which the school received two years ago, coming to an end.

He said: “As a Fresh Start school the school was entitled, for a limited period, to additional funding. That period has come to an end so some adjustments must be made to bring the school into line with the funding available to all other schools.

“Willowcroft School, like all other maintained schools, has to manage within a predetermined budget.

“This can mean that, regrettably, staff redundancies sometimes have to be made.

“Before redundancies are made, schools and governing bodies have to follow a process which involves full consultation with all staff.”

Mark Fysh, of Oxfordshire Unison, the union represe, said: “Willowcroft School is a brand new school and now they are taking nearly half of all the support staff — that is totally unacceptable.

“Support staff are regarded as cannon fodder.

“How is the school going to run if they have lost 40 per cent of the support staff? We need to look for alternatives.”