Letters

10^th March 2023

Dear Parent/Carer,

Re: Planned strike action at Falmouth School on 15^th & 16^th March 2023

We write further to our previous correspondence to update you on the progress of our contingency planning during the forthcoming strike action in schools.

Background

We have had confirmation from NEU that members of the union intend to take formal industrial action by participating in a strike which will take place on 15^th & 16^th March 2023.

The strike action is in relation to a national dispute around teacher and school staff pay. I wanted to take this opportunity to further explain the dispute and to also outline the school’s plans during the strike.

What is the dispute which has led to the strike?

As you may know, over the summer the Department for Education agreed to a 5% pay rise for teachers. Teaching unions across England and Scotland, including NEU are in dispute with the Department for Education regarding their request for teachers pay to keep up with inflation and the cost of living.

What will happen at the school during the strike?

• School will be open to selected students within Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12. These specific students will be invited to attend bespoke, subject specific sessions either on 15^th March or on 16^th March. The school will contact the families of those students directly through a separate communication.
• School will be open to vulnerable students. The school will contact the families of those students directly through a separate communication.
• Other Year 7 to Year 13 students will study remotely through the established means of accessing their learning through Google Classroom, Tassomai, Sparx Maths and GCSE Bitesize platforms.

Some staff might form a picket line outside the school. A picket line is where staff gather near the entrance to a workplace to protest in person, they may be holding notice boards or banners. If that is the case, I would like to take this opportunity to remind all students and parents that as a Trust we support our staff’s legal right to strike. Please ensure that any interactions you have with staff are courteous and respectful as they would be on any other day.

We would also like to remind you that it is potentially unlawful for people who are not members of staff at the school (or their union representatives) to join a picket line. We therefore ask parents or carers or pupils to refrain from joining any picket line.

We have tried to give parents and carers as much notice as possible of these circumstances. We appreciate that any partial closure may be disruptive to you, for which we apologise. We hope that you understand we have not taken these decisions lightly and had to take decisions to secure the health and safety of your child and any non-striking staff in consideration of anticipated heavily reduced numbers of staffing.

Lastly, we want to take this opportunity to reiterate that your child’s education is important to all staff at Falmouth School. We hope that by putting in place these contingency plans we can limit any impact the strike could have to your child’s education.

Yours sincerely

Lenka Chanter

Headteacher