Strike Action

As a school, we will continue to follow the guidance issued from the Department of Education and remind you that the impact of this action varies from school to school depending on the proportion of teachers within the NEU and their personal decisions on participating in strike action. We are aware that over two thirds of our teaching staff are currently members of the NEU, and the majority of these members supported the first rounds of strike action. However, this is subject to change and teachers are not compelled to give us advance notice of their intentions for each of the strike action days.

As always, our main priority is to ensure the safety and supervision of pupils on site, therefore we have conducted a thorough risk assessment based on the information we have available. Non-teaching staff are not on strike which means that normal service will be maintained for operational matters and pastoral staff are in school to ensure safeguarding and first aid provision remain in place.

Although we would have liked to maximise the number of pupils attending school, this will be limited as we cannot guarantee we would have sufficient staff to pupil ratios to manage this safely. We do not intend pursuing external supply cover for this day and are reluctant to ask teachers to cover classes for colleagues that are striking. Therefore, we have limited capacity to provide a productive and safe learning environment on site for all pupils and have made the difficult decision to have one year group attending school on each of the days and to offer a remote learning programme for remaining pupils to access at home. Where teachers are in school on the day, live lessons will be delivered remotely, where absent then work will be available on Google Classrooms as before. Pupils should check in with their class teacher at the start of each lesson through Google Classrooms log in to confirm attendance.

After careful consideration as to the anticipated impact on each year group and other pre-planned activities taking place in school, we have decided to open school to Year 10 only on Wednesday 5^th July and for Year 9 only on the 7^th July. During these days pupils will experience a mix of timetable lessons and additional activities. The Year 10 College visit to Manchester College and the Year 9 workshops on knife crime will go ahead as calendared during the respective dates.

 

Plans for Wednesday 5^th July:

1. The school is open for all Year 10 pupils only, pupils are to enter via their usual gate at the usual time and head to the Theatre where they will register in form groups and will then follow the planned timetable for the day. Year 10 Manchester College taster day (40 pupils)
2.  Years 7, 8, and 9 pupils will not be in school- they will be expected to engage in live lessons where their class teacher is in school and to complete work using the appropriate year group online learning platforms for the remainder of the school day.
3. Provision will be in place for any vulnerable pupils across all year groups should they wish to attend school on strike days. These include; pupils with an EHCP, Children in care, children who have social care involvement.  Please contact school on admin@reddish.stockport.sch.uk in advance, if you intend to access a place so we can monitor attendance safely. Pupils are to report to the theatre on arrival for registration.
4. Access to online learning platforms and activities are identified on the attached guidance document. 
5. If your child is currently eligible for Free school meals and is not scheduled to be in school on 5^th July, we will be providing vouchers which will be sent via email.
6. The school bus will be available for those that are attending school and normally use this service.

 

Plans for Friday 7^th July:

1. The school is open for all Year 9 pupils only, pupils are to enter via their usual gate at the usual time and head to the Theatre where they will register in form groups and will then follow the planned timetable for the day. 
2. Years 7, 8, and 10 pupils will not be in school they will be expected to engage in live lessons where their class teacher is in school and to complete work using the appropriate year group online learning platforms for the remainder of the school day.
3. Provision will be in place for any vulnerable pupils across all year groups should they wish to attend school on strike days. These include; pupils with an EHCP, Children in care, children who have social care involvement.  Please contact school on admin@reddish.stockport.sch.uk in advance, if you intend to access a place so we can monitor attendance safely. Pupils are to report to the theatre on arrival for registration.
4. Access to online learning platforms and activities are identified on the attached guidance document. 
5. If your child is currently eligible for Free school meals and is not scheduled to be in school on 7^th July, we will be providing vouchers which will be sent via email.
6. The school bus will be available for those that are attending school and normally use this service.

We understand this may cause additional childcare arrangements for families and for this reason the decision to close the school to the majority of pupils has not been taken lightly. We will endeavour to ensure that we are able to continue to provide our pupils with their educational provision.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

Yours sincerely,
Linda Hanson