My teachers at HSDC are losing their jobs and my education is so uncertain - we all need help

As a first year student at Havant South Downs College (HSDC), I know full well what they’re going through. Enormous staff cuts throughout all three campuses have forced them to do this.

Their bright signs and flags in front of the college gates - reading “no staff, no support, students deserve better” - fill me with pride. I support the strikes.

The college claims it needs to cut £3.7m from its budget. They want to cut staff by 30 per cent at Havant. 33 per cent at South Downs, and 29 per cent at Alton, but how can they do this?

Most of my teachers have been working at HSDC for more than a decade, highly experienced with worthy careers spanning more than 25 years. Those I’ve spoken to said they’ve never seen restructuring go this badly, or affect so many of their livelihoods.

They have been let down and the pressure for them to keep working shouldn’t be piled on them. My fellow students and I worry about the effect this will have on our next, and last, academic year. We’re losing our pastoral support.

While we’re completing our A levels and university applications, we’ll be left without our tutors and many beloved teachers. Our class sizes are going up but we’ll have less support than ever for learning and revision. We need all the help we can get at such a big moment in our lives.

So many valuable courses such as German and others will be cut across all three campuses. Students will have their passions denied to them. Upcoming applicants are having their chosen courses slashed, and have to find alternatives. It’s not fair. Something must be done to protect our education.

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I know it’s a polarising subject, but I can see the situation from the teachers’ point of view. I applaud them for standing up for what they believe in. Their resilience during such hard, trying times, is inspiring to me and the other students.

Those in power should take responsibility. Their job is to make the college the best it can be, and removing 100 people from their roles doesn’t do that. Forcing staff to take industrial action doesn’t do that. How can the higher-ups pin the entire future of the college on selling land at South Downs campus? They might not even have enough money to pay all the staff being made redundant.

To those students and parents who argue teachers shouldn’t be striking and keep working, what would you do if you were in same position? How would you react if your life was being turned upside down? Everything is so uncertain. I hope this can be resolved for their sake and ours.