Further to the letter detailing the NEU strike action on 1^st February 2023, additional dates were sent for continued strike action, this is taking place on Tuesday 28^th February 2023, Wednesday 15^th March and Thursday 16^th March 2023. We continue to work with our staff workforce to understand what this means for our school community and we have consulted with our workforce to plan accordingly and give you as much notice as possible of any closures.

As a result of the information gathered we will be operating a partial closure on Tuesday 28^th February. Rather than choosing specific classes to close on Tuesday, we are asking for support from our families with this, as we did before. If you are able and willing to keep your child at home and access home learning provided by school then this would be very supportive. If your child is in receipt of free school meals (not universal free school meals) then a packed lunch can be provided by school and sent home with your child on Monday 27^th February, to be refrigerated overnight at home, and eaten on Tuesday 28^th February, at home. Thank you to families in advance for your support. Now that a formal decision has been made could we please ask that you complete the short Microsoft Form (details of this can be obtained from the school office) or contact the school office to inform them of your decision in relation to your young person.

The intelligence we can’t gather is how many staff in other schools are going on strike, which in turn impacts on our whole workforce as – where an employee has a child of school age – they may not know until the morning of the 28^th February whether their child’s school is open or not, which may impact on their ability to attend work.  Unfortunately, we cannot therefore fully rule out having to fully close at short notice, but hope you understand we are doing all we can to give families as much support and notice as possible to minimise any disruption.

At this time, the NEU has indicated its members will strike on a further 2 dates across March. Whilst we respect a trade union’s right to strike, we also apologise for the inconvenience and uncertainty this causes for families during this time and will continue to provide as much notice as possible as we approach the next date for planned action. We thank you as always for your continued support.

Kind regards,

Viki Drew
Headteacher