Teachers at a crisis-hit Braintree school were told to teach subjects they weren’t qualified for, a union boss claims.

Academies trust Lilac Sky announced last week that it would stop running Tabor Academy from Easter, just two years after taking over the secondary school with a pledge to make it “outstanding”.

Ofsted placed the school in special measures last month because inspectors found the teaching, leadership and qualifications achieved by pupils to be inadequate.

Frustrated parents claimed many subjects, particularly Maths, were taught by multiple teachers and teaching was inconsistent, causing pupils’ grades to slip.

Braintree Council leader Graham Butland has asked Essex County Council to invest more time and money into making Braintree’s education better by employing better teachers.

Jerry Glazier, National Union of Teachers’ general secretary for Essex, said the teachers were not to blame for Tabor Academy’s current predicament.

See this week's Braintree and Witham Times for the full story.