National Express West Midlands Bus Strikes – Monday 20th March 2023

Dear Parent/Carer,

Re: National Express West Midlands Bus Strikes – Monday 20^th March 2023

Firstly, we would like to express our thanks to families and pupils for their resilience and adaptability over recent weeks. The challenges that have faced us would not have been as easily managed without your support, or without the fantastic attitude of pupils.

School closures and gas supply:

The gas supply, snow and industrial action adjustments are now behind us and we are looking forward to a straight forward and exceptionally focused final two weeks of term in school. We have reminded pupils in school, but feel it is important to highlight here that although temporary heating is in place, we still have no gas supply. This means we are continuing to provide food from our canteen on greatly reduced cooking facilities. Menus have been adjusted accordingly and our cold food offer continues to be greater than would normally be the case. We thank pupils and families for your patience and look forward to being back to our normal hot food menu offer as soon as the gas main is replaced.

Bus Strikes:

You may be aware that some employees of National Express West Midlands were due to take industrial action, which was then suspended. We understand that industrial action is now due to commence on Monday. The latest information on their website states:

The bus strike has been suspended until Monday 20th March while a vote on an improved offer takes place. Buses will be running as normal until then. If the strike goes ahead, we will be running a limited network from 20th March.

We are highlighting this as it may affect pupils’ travel arrangements to and from school on Monday 20^th March.  Please monitor the information available online, and make the necessary arrangements for your child to travel to school via other modes of transport if buses are not running or are running with a reduced service. Additional travel time may also need to be factored in to enable pupils to arrive on time on Monday morning.

We will monitor the arrival to school on Monday and make fair adjustments to our punctuality systems.

Thank you for your support.

Yours faithfully,

Mr M Dunn

Head Teacher