PARENTS were reassured today that a staff crisis at a Felixstowe school will not mean their children's exams will be affected.Maths teachers Linda Keen and Jo Becket had to have operations in hospital on similar dates, but one has taken longer to recover than expected leaving staff stretched.

PARENTS were reassured today that a staff crisis at a Felixstowe school will not affect their children's exams.

Maths teachers Linda Keen and Jo Becket had to have operations in hospital on similar dates, but one has taken longer to recover than expected, leaving staff stretched.

The headteacher at Orwell High School, David Forrest, is having to juggle the busy schedules to make sure the children do not miss out.

He said: "Any disruption will have some effect, but we are working hard to make sure this is as small as possible. The staff have been brilliant as usual.

"They have given me their full co-operation, so the children will not suffer too much. They deserve a lot of praise as they have increased their workload to help us get round this problem."

There are usually six full-time teachers to cover all maths classes, so losing a third of them is a big blow to the school.

However, a portion of each maths lesson is usually supervised by a classroom assistant after a teacher has set the work. This portion may be increased until things get back to normal.

Mr Forrest added: "We have employed a specialist teacher on a part-time basis who will help to protect A -evel students.

"We will prioritise cover so those students with exams coming up will be affected the least.

"Our plan was to cause a little bit of disruption to lots of children rather than causing a lot of harm to just a few."

Although one of the absent teachers is waiting for medical advice, the other is expected to return to work next week and then normal lessons can resume.