Dear parents and carers,
I write today with advanced details of arrangements for Friday 20th September, which is the next day of planned strike action by some members of the NEU.
With the support of ACAS, we have attempted to secure a meeting with NEU representatives in the hope of resolving the current dispute and averting any further disruption to the school, to you and your child.
This continues to be incredibly frustrating for everyone as we have provided extensive, repeated assurances to all staff on the protection of their terms and conditions as we convert to become an academy and join West Midlands Academy Trust.
We know you will share our frustration that this means that together we must plan for Friday 20th September to be a day where not all pupils can come to school due to strike action. Please be assured we will continue to do all we can to minimise the disruption this causes to your child’s education.
The year groups in school on Friday 20th September will be Year 7, Year 8 and Year 11.
Pupils in Years 9, 10, 12 and 13 will not be in school and will be set a day of home-learning activities to complete on Edulink. Further details will follow on Edulink for parents/ carers who work in the emergency services, for those who may need a Free School Meal package on Friday or children with an EHCP.
Should we succeed in resolving the dispute with the NEU we will write to you again with an update.
We also confirmed to you and staff last week that, as a result of the NEU’s continued refusal to accept our assurances, the conditional pause that had been put into place has now ended and the processes to complete our conversion to become an academy are progressing. The next step in our process is TUPE consultation with our staff, which is set to begin next week.
Aside from the current dispute with the NEU which we are really sorry remains unresolved, many of you, our staff and our pupils feel this is an incredibly exciting time for Swanshurst. We are progressing towards joining the other 2,828 (over 80%) of secondary schools nationally who are already academies. We are moving towards a new chapter in which Governors and many other stakeholders are of the firm belief that becoming an academy will secure the strongest and most successful long-term future for our school, and to create a formal local partnership of collaboration with like-minded schools who share our passion to serve our communities with an exceptional education for young people.
Please do get in touch if you have any questions, but in the meantime thank you again for your understanding.
Your sincerely,
Mr M Dunn
Head Teacher
Swanshurst School