Almost 9,000 people have backed a petition to save a long-standing teaching assistant who has been made redundant.

Those at Brampton Primary School behind the decision have said they themselves regret it - but insist they have been left with no choice.

Instead, the Governing Body blames the funding cuts being imposed upon schools across the county.

The petition was set up online last week in response to the news that Tracey Farish would be made redundant after more than 25 years as a member of staff at the town primary school.

Shocked by the news, Anna Blackburn, who remembers Miss Farish as a teaching assistant when she herself was at school, decided to do something to try and help.

The mum-of-two, whose eldest daughter has just started at the school's nursery where Miss Farish works, said she is "one of those teaching assistants who gives her heart and soul and touches the lives of everyone she meets".

Miss Farish started her career in 1992 working in reception at what was then Brampton Infant School.

But after the teaching assistants at the school went through the redundancy process, Miss Farish and Jacqui Clapperton, another long-standing member of staff, were told they would lose their jobs. Their appeal against that decision was quashed last week.

"We should value the qualities of a teaching assistant like Tracey: hard work, dedication, experience, good communication skills and compassion for others," said Miss Blackburn.

"It's often hard to agree on what to do when faced with such large problems like the educational crisis, job loss, and budget deficits.

"But it's easy to see the value in keeping dedicated, talented, and beloved people like Tracey employed, and keeping teaching assistants in their roles to benefit our kids."

Yesterday afternoon the petition, entitled 'Save Tracey Farish from leaving Brampton Primary School', had gathered a staggering 3,758 signatures and that number was still rising as parents and former pupils shared it on social media.

Many commented how she was their favourite teaching assistant and of how valued she was to their children's education.

One supporter said: "Tracey has been a part of the school for years, she is part of its heart, you simply can’t lose her."

Others commented to say it was an "absolute disgrace" and "outrageous" to make her redundant.

"They provide that extra support to the children which is worth it's weight in gold," said one parent.

Rose Logie, from Brampton Primary School's Governing Body, told the News & Star they recognised and understood the strength of feeling from the public, but insisted Government cuts mean they have no choice.

"The Governing Body reviewed all options to reduce costs and regrettably conceded that reducing staffing was sadly unavoidable," she said.

"Over the past eight months, and in accordance with the Local Authority policy, we have worked with staff, unions, our Local Authority and Human Resources advisers to agree a fair and equitable process for identifying where redundancies should be made.

"We have, throughout this process, put the needs of our pupils at the centre of our decision making."

She continued: "It has been an incredibly difficult process, all our staff are skilled, valued, and contribute hugely to the school.

"However, five posts were identified for redundancy and notices were issued to affected staff. We are aware of the petition asking for the reinstatement of a particular staff member and fully understand (and empathise with) the strength of people’s feelings.

"We deeply regret the situation has come to this, but the Governing Body has been left with no choice given our budget situation."

In response to the way the staff have been treated Miss Farish and Mrs Clapperton, the union representing them said it had concerns about the fairness of the point scoring criteria.

Dave Armstrong, regional organiser for Unison, said: “The position with Brampton is that it’s seriously mismanaged. Obviously it’s part of a national problem about schools funding but I think they have particularly handled it badly, the leadership of the school.

“Our members who were affected, we’re taking their cases further to see whether we have any legal challenges against the school. Obviously we would prefer not to do that.

"We would have prefered the school to have dealt with it properly and we don’t think they have.”

View the petition online at www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/384/882/993/save-tracey-farish-from-leaving-brampton-primary-school/.