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24
Jan 2023
Some Harrogate Grammar School pupils to study at home during teacher strike
Harrogate Grammar School has said it will be "significantly affected" by next week's teachers' strike and will only partially open.
Members of the National Education Union are due to strike on Tuesday. Further industrial action is scheduled for February 28 and March 15 and 16.
Neil Renton, headteacher at Harrogate Grammar, said in a letter to parents yesterday:
"The NEU is the UK’s largest education union and our planning indicates that we will be significantly affected by the strike action.
"As a result of this, we are not able to operate our normal provision for all students in school. The school will therefore be partially open for some students with remote provision in place for others."
Mr Renton said Department for Education guidance stated schools should prioritise students taking exams and therefore pupils in years 11 and 13 would attend school as normal and either have lessons when teachers were not striking or undertake private study.
Children in years seven to 10 will work remotely on Teams "where the teacher is not striking, within the structure of the normal school day", the letter said.
Mr Renton said it would review its provision for the later strike days after next week. He concluded:
"We thank you for your understanding and hope that this industrial dispute is resolved quickly for the benefit of both students and the teaching profession as a whole."
Other schools set for 'unavoidable impact'
Harrogate Grammar School is part of Red Kite Learning Trust, which also manages Oatlands Junior School, Coppice Valley Primary School, Rossett Acre Primary School, Western Primary School in the Harrogate district.
Richard Sheriff
Red Kite chief executive Richard Sheriff sent a letter alongside Mr Renton's saying "a very significant number of our teachers" are members of the NEU and "sadly it is unavoidable that this will have an impact on the provision we offer across our schools on the strike days". He added:
"The impact will vary considerably from school to school, depending on the number of staff who are members of the union concerned and who decide to support the action.
"Red Kite Learning Trust is the employer for all our teachers and staff in schools, and we have received some information from the National Education Union (NEU) about how many members are in each of our schools. This information does not give us the full picture, however, as we do not know which teachers will choose to actually be on strike on the days concerned. Headteachers/principals will therefore have to cope with a high degree of uncertainty, as they plan for the strike days."
He added:
"All our schools intend to stay open and do the best they can to avoid our young people missing valuable learning time as a result of this dispute. It is, however, impossible for this to be 'business as usual' and there may well be a necessity for them to ask some children or year groups to stay at home on the days affected. The decision will be made in relation to the ability of the school to operate safely for the protection of children and staff.
"We are all really sorry to see the education of our children disrupted again, but I hope you understand we are doing everything we can in the circumstances."
Read more:
- Union predicts some Harrogate district schools will close due to strike
- Nurses and ambulance workers set to strike in Harrogate on same day
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