The head of Chippenham’s Abbeyfield School, James Fox, is not in his post while Wiltshire Council investigates redundancies there.

Mr Fox has come under fire after revealing to the Gazette that up to 11 members of teaching staff might lose their jobs, just two months after hiring new teachers.

Wiltshire NASUWT secretary and national executive member Ian Phillips and Wiltshire NUT secretary Mike Harrison attended a meeting between Mr Fox and staff last month, and said they were concerned about how the announcement took place.

It is believed the council also met Mr Fox to discuss concerns about the way the budget was being used at the school recently, although this has not been confirmed.

A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said: “We can confirm that the head teacher, Mr Fox, is temporarily not at Abbeyfield School, pending a review of the current redundancy process.

“The main priority of the local authority and the board of governors is to minimise any disruption to the pupils’ education during this period, and to ensure that the necessary review is carried out as quickly as possible.”

Assistant headteacher David Nicholson has taken on the position of acting head at the school before a review next year. No one at the school was available for comment.

When contacted by the Gazette, many parents and students said they had not known that the head was absent. Some expressed concern and said they supported Mr Fox, who became head in September 2010. A parent with two children at the school said: “He’s turned this school around and I for one would be very disappointed if he has gone permanently. I think it would be doing the school a disservice if he doesn’t come back.

“The pupils respect him and we all need that in a school, and as a parent I have had to speak to him a couple of times and he always reassures me. You just have to look at how the school was performing a few years ago.”

A student who used to attend the school said: “It’s a real shock, as I think he’s a good guy.”

And parent Meg Cooper said: “James Fox has given the school the shake-up it needed.”

But on the Gazette website, a former teacher from the school said: “Firstly though, redundancies are happening in the majority of secondary schools across the country – it’s just never publicised the way yours has been.

“I’ve not yet heard of it making the local papers, and I think this was an odd move by your head. Normally, the head asks the staff to keep it a secret.”

Since arriving at Abbeyfield, Mr Fox has introduced new uniforms and restructured the senior management team.

He was previously the deputy head at Writhlington Business and Enterprise School in Radstock, but was drawn to Abbeyfield because of its business and enterprise specialism.