REDUNDANCIES are being made at Banbury Academy after the trust which controls it revealed the school faced a deficit of more than £40,000 over the last year.

Associate principal Prahavi Osman said the job losses were down to reduced pupil numbers which meant they received reduced funding from the government.

But she said there would not be an "exodus" of teachers and any redundancies would be "minimal".

It comes as the school's trust, Aspirations Academies Trust (AAT), said the school was running at a loss of £40,547 over the last year.

Mrs Osman said: "Banbury Academy needs to restructure support staff in line with the reduced size of the student population.

"It is hoped that the reduction in staff numbers will be largely managed through the natural turnover of staff leaving in year, with minimal redundancies.

"There is always a turnover of staff in schools, as there was last year, which we would not describe as an exodus."

According to the school the pupil population has dropped by about 100 pupils in each of the last 10 years.

But the number is scheduled to grow from next year as there are more pupils at local primary schools.

Mrs Osman said it would be "inappropriate" to take about redundancy numbers and that there would not be more workload for teachers.

ATT has been contacted for comment.