First Federation Trust
Dear Parent/ Carer,
You are probably aware from media coverage that the National Education Union (NEU) has announced national and regional strike action on the following dates:
Wednesday 1st February 2023: all eligible members in England and Wales
Thursday 2nd March 2023: all eligible members in the South West
Wednesday 15th March 2023: all eligible members in England and Wales
Thursday 16th March 2023: all eligible members in England and Wales.
The strike is happening because of a national dispute between the union and the government over teachers' pay. I am writing to you today to give you as much notice as possible that learning might be disrupted on those dates, although at this stage I do not know to what extent. Your child's school will keep you informed and make any decisions relating to potential disruption, as soon as possible, once we have adequately risk assessed the impact on each school in the Trust. In the event of a strike, the Department for Education expects the Headteacher to take all reasonable steps to keep the school open for as many pupils as possible. However, so that you are aware, the options that we may need to consider are:
• No closure: the school remains open for all, and we deliver the normal curriculum in lessons.
• No closure: the school remains open for all, but we provide alternative activities and supervision.
• Partial closure: the school remains open for some pupils but not all.
• Full closure: the school is closed for all pupils.
I am making you aware of these options so that you can start to consider alternative childcare arrangements for these dates, in the event that we have to close the school to your child. Whilst I am sorry for the potential disruption to you and your child's education and understand that this situation might be frustrating, I hope that all members of our school communities will continue to treat each other with respect and to remember that all of our staff do their job because they are committed to providing a safe and secure environment and the highest quality of education for the children in their care. As stated above, individual schools will write to you again to inform you of the arrangements that are in place within the school, in the near future.
Kind regards, Paul Walker CEO, First Federation Trust