Potential Strikes
17th January 2023
Dear Parents,
You may have seen in the news today that one of the largest teaching unions in England have just announced that they are planning to ask members to go on strike on the following days:
Wednesday 1st February
Tuesday 28th February
Wednesday 15th March
Thursday 16th March.
These days are provisional so far, and could be subject to change.
There are pressures on all of us, but particularly for those in public sector jobs, and I would like to say that I don’t think this action has been taken lightly. It does involve concern about staff pay, but is more about the state of school funding in general and the loss of Government funding in Education as a whole, which people have had most concern about. We have been very lucky in Kingsley to be able to recruit and keep very good and skilled staff, but many schools struggle with this. We have also been lucky here to fund lots of extra provision in the classrooms and elsewhere, but moving forwards, we may not be able to do what we have done in the past. I think its important that in your response to Teachers and Support Staff action, you know the full picture of why they feel the need to take the action they are proposing. It is not an easy decision for staff to make as none of us want children to miss school.
I wanted to get in touch as soon as possible as I know the impact of any industrial action could cause you to have to make additional or alternative arrangements for your children, should these strikes go ahead. You may want to start considering this now.
I will be seeking further clarification about these proposed dates, and advice on how school will respond. However, it is very likely that service at Kingsley will be significantly disrupted and you should prepare for this. It is likely that there may be partial or full closure of the school as we may simply not be able to open safely.
I will keep you up to date with how this action may affect our school. There is always the possibility that further negotiations will be held and that strikes will not take place, but I do feel that they are quite likely to happen at this point.
Thanks, as always, for your support of school during these difficult times.
Alison Whittaker, Head Teacher.