Parents at a primary school in Oxford are up in arms as their children’s class has been without a permanent teacher since Christmas.

One class at Rose Hill Primary School is currently being taught by two teaching assistants, one of whom usually works as a cleaner.

This comes amid severe staff shortages at schools across Oxfordshire.

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Parent, Sammie Baird said: “I’m really tempted to leave work and turn around and go back and pick her up. 

“The children were told in December the teacher was leaving but there’s still not a permanent teacher.

“There’s also not a lot of communication. We were supposed to have a meeting with the headteacher on Monday, but she called in sick.”

Another Rose Hill parent, who wanted to remain anonymous, raised concerns about the impact the teacher shortage was having on her child’s development.

She said: “The children are not progressing as much as they should be.

“Teachers are leaving who have been there for more than 10 years.”

The class at Rose Hill was taught by a supply teacher last term after the permanent teacher left at Christmas.

No supply teacher was found for the summer term, so the class has been taught by two teaching assistants since.

Figures from the School Workforce Consensus show there were 31 vacancies across state-funded schools in Oxfordshire last November, up from 23 the year before.  

Of the 31 vacancies, 25 were for classroom teachers.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the numbers for vacancies were "only the tip of the iceberg".

He added: "What we hear is that it is a constant struggle to fill vacancies which often requires readvertising for posts, filling gaps with supply staff, and using non-subject specialists to teach classes.

"All of this adds to the workload and pressure on school and college leaders, as well as existing staff, and it puts at risk educational provision for children.”

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Rose Hill Primary School is managed by the River Learning Trust.

A spokesperson for the trust said: “Teacher recruitment is a huge issue across the country. It is particularly problematic in areas where property prices are high and where people are often priced out of the housing market.

"The problem has traditionally been worse in secondary schools and in certain subjects, such as science and maths.

“But what we are seeing in the UK today are vacancies across a greater range of subjects and also in primary schools.

"As a trust, we work hard to support our schools to fill vacancies. But this is a bigger issue than one school one trust or one part of the country."