Industrial Strike Action

As a school, we will continue to follow the guidance issued from the Department for Education and remind you that the impact of this action varies from school to school depending on the proportion of teachers within the NEU and their personal decisions on participating in strike action. We are aware that over two thirds of our teaching staff are currently members of the NEU, and the majority of these members supported the first two days of strike action. However, this is subject to change and teachers are not compelled to give us advance notice of their intentions for each of the strike action days.

As always, our main priority is to ensure the safety and supervision of pupils on site, therefore we have conducted a thorough risk assessment based on the information we have available. Non-teaching staff are not on strike which means that normal service will be maintained for operational matters and pastoral staff are in school to ensure safeguarding and first aid provision remain in place.

Unfortunately we are not in a position to extend the number of pupils attending the in school provision and are unable to rotate year groups based on the known staffing at this stage. Therefore, we have made the decision once again, to prioritise Year 11 being in school on both school days.

The school will be closed for Years 7-10 and a remote learning programme for pupils to access at home will be available.  Where teachers are in school on the day, live lessons will be delivered remotely, where absent, work will be available on Google Classroom as before. Pupils should check in with their class teacher at the start of each lesson through Google Classroom to confirm attendance.

Plans for Thursday 27^th April and Tuesday 2^nd May:

1. The school is open for all Year 11 pupils only, pupils are to enter via their usual gate at the usual time and head to the Theatre where they will register in form groups and will then follow the planned timetable for the day. This will include a Science walking talking mock, an English mock revision session and additional Year 11 examination preparation sessions. Where their teachers are absent, they will continue with supervised independent study.
2. On both strike days,  Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 pupils will not be in school- they will be expected to engage in live lessons where their class teacher is in school and to complete work using the appropriate year group online learning platforms for the remainder of the school day.
3. Provision will be in place for any vulnerable pupils across all year groups should they wish to attend school on strike days. These include; pupils with an EHCP, Children in care, children who have social care involvement.  Please contact school on admin@reddish.stockport.sch.uk in advance, if you intend to access a place so we can monitor attendance safely. Pupils are to report to the theatre on arrival for registration.
4. Access to online learning platforms and activities will be sent to your child’s Google Classroom page.
5.  If your child is currently eligible for Free school meals and is not in school on these days, we will be providing vouchers which will be sent via email.
6. The school bus will be available for those that are attending school and normally use this service.  

On Tuesday 2^nd May, there will be a full Art exam for the Fine Art group.  In addition to this, all Geography students will be completing their compulsory pre-release.  This is part of their GCSE and full attendance will be required.

We understand this may cause additional childcare arrangements for families and for this reason the decision to close the school to the majority of pupils has not been taken lightly. We will endeavour to ensure that we are able to continue to provide our pupils with their educational provision.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

Yours sincerely,
Linda Hanson