A school where five governors collectively quit saying they couldn’t work with the head teacher has also seen an exodus of staff.

The Messenger reported earlier this month that chairman Lee Lundie, vice-chairman Juliette Eastwood, finance committee chairman Mike Dowsett, and parent governors Anna Berry and Richard Kerswill have all left the board of governors at Hempstead Junior School.

In their joint letter of resignation, they said they could “no longer work with the head teacher”, Sharon Smith.

Parents were not told officially about the departures with a newsletter plea for new governors described as a “restructuring of the board”.

After the story appeared in the paper, a number of parents contacted the Messenger.

All asked not to be named because their children are still at the school but said they were unhappy with the recent decision to mix up all the classes in each year group starting in September, just two weeks before some pupils will sit their 11-Plus.

Other problems, including pupil behaviour not being addressed, were brought up.

A number of sources confirmed that during this academic year the school has lost at least seven key members of staff.

One parent said “this mass haemorrhaging of staff speaks for itself”.

The head of Year 3 who is also the deputy head, will be leaving in July, while the head of Year 4 and head of Year 5 have already gone.

The special educational needs co-ordinator, two teachers including a music specialist and the school caretaker are also due to leave this term.

One person, with links to the school, said some of those staff had many years experience and they were all valued members of the team.

In a letter to the school, the departing governors initially said: “Despite our considerable efforts over the course of many months, we no longer believe we can work with the current head teacher to deliver sustainable progress.”

Head of children’s services at Medway Council, Cllr Mike O’Brien, said at the time of the first story: “The decision by some of the governors is entirely a matter for them.

“We have a strong local authority governor presence on the governing body and there is confidence progress will be maintained.”

But Peter Read, an independent education adviser for Kent and Medway, said: “Something is very wrong here.”

He added: “The governors have clearly behaved very professionally. What is most worrying is the attitude of Medway Council.”

He pointed out Cllr O’Brien’s comments on the strong local authority governor presence, actually amount to only one governor on a diluted board of just six.

Mr Read went on to say: “The local authority make capital out of its ‘Good Ofsted’, although this took place just a month after the head teacher took up post so this measured events before her arrival.”

A Medway Council spokesperson added: "Between December and July one senior teacher has retired, two teachers have moved on to other schools as expected and one teacher has taken a post abroad.

"This turnover is not exceptional in primary schools, indeed several Medway schools have much higher turnover than this."