Connaught School for Girls, a secondary school in Waltham Forest, east London, has been forced to partially close for much of the next three weeks as the senior leadership team is locked in a dispute with the local arm of the National Education Union (NEU) over allegations of misconduct, including bullying and intimidation, by a unionised staff member.
While the school attempts to remain open for Year 11 pupils as they prepare for their exams, the headteacher admitted to parents that it would likely cause “additional stress and anxiety” to families, while pledging to “avoid any disruption” to students’ learning. Pupils in other year groups are having to remain at home for much of the next three weeks.
square POLITICS Bin strikes threaten to spread as summer of walkouts loom for Labour
Read More
In his letter, Alexander Silk told parents: “During [the employer mediation] ACAS negotiations last week, the union representative informed me that they would call off the strike action if we agreed to call off the investigation. We have not agreed to this.”
Silk’s letter also claims that the vote to stage the strike was taken at a meeting in a local cafe, raising questions over the level of support for the walkout.
Since 2022, the Connaught has lost 31 school days to industrial action alone, and it marks a pattern of behaviour across the local area, where secondary schools in Haringey, Hackney and Waltham Forest lost 24 days collectively in strike action this year.
Anna Rothwell, a parent of a Year 7 child at the school, said she was “deeply dismayed” that the NEU was supporting the strikes, which she said appeared to have been called to protect the position of one staff member.
“More than 200 parents and members of the community have signed a petition overnight calling for the strike to be called off – the strength of feeling among parents is strong, especially about the disruption caused to girls studying for their GCSEs, who have already suffered disruption to their education through Covid,” she added.
‘Makes a mockery of very important right to strike’
A council spokesman said: “We are very concerned with the prospect of further disruption to the education of local children. We have heard from several parents and appreciate their frustrations. We are in contact with the staff of the school to see how we can support them to resolve this dispute. We have also raised our concerns with the Department for Education, which is directly responsible for academy schools such as Connaught.”
A spokesman said: “The NEU are currently in dispute and have been since March on several issues, including the victimisation of NEU members, and due to the current actions of the employer, the NEU have called further industrial action.”
“We believe it is an inappropriate use of the disciplinary procedure when other options were available to the school, which, in this case, they chose to ignore.”
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Three-week strike during GCSEs by union ‘holding school to ransom’ )
Also on site :