Strike Action - Thursday 2nd March

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As you will be aware, the membership of the National Education Union (NEU) have voted to take industrial action in schools across the country. This will take the form of strike action and the second in a series of days is due to take place on Thursday 2nd March. I am writing to give you as much notice as possible about the likely impact this will have on our school.

The industrial action is a result of a national dispute between the NEU and the government and is not specific to our school nor to United Learning. The overwhelming majority of schools locally and nationally will be impacted but each school will have different arrangements for students due to the number of members of its staff who are likely to strike.

We have been working closely with colleagues here to plan for the strikes so that we can minimise any disruption to our students’ education. Our current understanding is that some colleagues will be taking industrial action and we are thus planning for this accordingly.

Our view, at present, is that we will be able to keep the school open on Thursday 2nd March for some students with the following arrangements in place:

Year group schedule, Thursday 2nd March:

 

Year group	Start time	Notes / comment	End time
13	8.30am	All lessons and exams will be running as expected. AM exam: Music PM exams: Physics, Business and Geography (revised start time of 1pm)	Either at lunchtime or after pm exam
12	8.30am	Most lessons will be running, and study provision will be in place where this is not the case	2.30pm
11	8.30am	Normal lessons or exams will be running all day. The Breakfast Booster at 7.45am is English Literature AM exam: English Literature (all students) Periods 3 and 4 to run as scheduled PM exam: Geography (start at 1pm) All other students to be in afternoon lessons as scheduled Excellence Hour: History (start at 2.30pm)	2.30pm unless in Excellence Hour for History
10	8.30am	All lessons will run as planned	2.30pm
9	8.30am	All lessons will run as planned in the morning The afternoon session will be a celebration of World Book Day	2.30pm
8	-	No school	-
7	-	No school

 

You will note that we have scheduled an earlier finish time for the day – we will have one lunch period for all students and there will be no form time on the day.

Key vulnerable students:
There will also be a study provision for key vulnerable students – families will be contacted directly to ask if they will be using this.

Timings of the school day:
The formal school day will finish at 2.30pm.

Catering:
Westcombe Park Canteen will be open as usual for breakfast, break and lunch service, including the Breakfast Booster provision for Year 11 students at 7.30am.

Maze Hill Canteen will be open for the Sixth Form.

 

Free School Meals

IF YOUR CHILD IS ENTITLED TO FREE SCHOOL MEALS, THEY ARE WELCOME TO COME TO SCHOOL BETWEEN 12.20-12.50PM to have lunch.
Please do let us know if you wish to take up this offer.

Uniform / dress code:
For those students in school, the usual expectations around uniform and dress code will be in place.

Continuity of Learning:
Each week we collate work that parallels the work that is being covered in lessons. This can be accessed by students who, for whatever reason, are unable to be in their lesson. This work will be available for students next week and students who are not in school will be able to access the work and ensure that their learning is not impacted too negatively by this industrial action.

I apologise for any potential inconvenience this causes you, but we are doing everything we can to minimise the number of pupils who are impacted by the industrial action.

It is unlikely that the industrial action will be called off, but if this were to happen, I will write to you to confirm that the school will be fully open.

Staff are under no obligation to tell me of their intention to strike in advance. The risk assessment I have undertaken is based, therefore, on probabilities. If, on the day, the staffing ratios are significantly different to those I anticipate, then it may be necessary to alter our arrangements. I hope very much that this would not be the case.

If you have any questions or concerns about the alternative arrangements outlined above, please do contact me.
There are two further dates that have been announced for industrial action (15th and 16th of March) and I will be writing to you at a later point with the arrangements we will make for these days.

Thank you for your continued support of the school and your child’s education.

Yours faithfully,

Cath Smith

Principal