Dear parents and carers, Planned NEU strike action: Thursday 27th April and Tuesday 2nd May 2023 You may have seen in the news that the recent pay offer has been rejected by the teaching unions.  The offer, being unfunded, would put impossible strain on school budgets and would have a significantly detrimental impact on a school’s ability to provide the highest standard of education to its students. Therefore, unions continue to pursue further negotiations with the government to see a satisfactory solution to this very difficult situation. In the meantime, the NEU have announced two further dates of strike action so, I am writing to give you notice of the impact this will have on our school ways of working during planned strike days.  The next dates of NEU strike action are Thursday 27th April and Tuesday 2nd May 2023. As you are aware, over 90% of our school’s teachers are members of the NEU and may be on strike, therefore the provision we offer in school on the above dates will be substantially restricted to ensure the safety of any students on-site is maintained at all times, with sufficient staff-student ratios.  All decisions on this have been taken in line with guidance provided by the DfE, Partnership Learning Trust, the local authority and the relevant unions. Exam Year group School provision on 27th April & 2nd May 2023 Year 6 All students must attend school as normal Year 11Year 13 Y11 GCSE Photography students must attend school as normal for their exam. Year 11 & Year 13 students: A timetable for each day will be confirmed to students via Teams in the coming week, with supervised study when a normal timetabled lesson is not taking place. Students must attend. Our students in Year 6, Year 11 and Year 13 are in the final stages of important preparations for their external examinations therefore, on these dates, we are making specific plans to ensure their learning is minimally disrupted.  Year 11 Photography students have their GCSE exam on this date – the exam will go ahead as scheduled.  On both dates school will only be open for young people who are identified as vulnerable or preparing for exams as a priority.  I once again ask parents to note that each school will be affected to a varying extent, depending on the numbers of teachers who are NEU members.  The actions which schools have to take at this time will not all be the same, but will reflect their individual circumstances. Young people who are identified as vulnerable, and have attended school on previous strike days, will again attend school on these dates.  The families of these young people have previously been contacted by our inclusion teams and the same arrangements as before will be in place. As the vast majority of teaching staff will be engaged in the strike action, therefore not in school, we will be unable to offer a normal timetable or regular taught lessons. Students who are on-site on this day will be supervised by support staff and any remaining teaching staff to complete work. There will be a small number of places available for children of key workers who do not have alternative provision to care for their young children on these dates.  Given the number of Y6, Y11 and Y13 students we are accommodating on-site and the limited staff resource, I must stress that places on these dates are very limited. Parents are required to complete the form (link at the end of this letter) to request a place by Friday 21st April.  Please note, completion of the form will not guarantee a place for your child on this day.  You will receive confirmation of whether a place can be offered by Monday 24th April. Free School Meals will be available to all those eligible from 11.30am – 1.30pm from the secondary site. I appreciate that this is a significant change to our normal ways of working and I would like to again express my appreciation of your cooperation at this time.  Yours faithfully, Clare Cross Principal Key worker request form – 27th April & 2nd May 2023