Strike Action

You will be aware that the National Education Union has declared strike action, which will take place on Wednesday 1st February.
The strike is happening because of a national dispute between the unions and the government over teachers’ pay and wider concerns about the ability to reward and retain teachers. The strike is not because of any issues at our school.

I can confirm that Southill will be open as usual next Wednesday. Please send your child to school as normal.

There will be some classes directly affected by strike action. In these classes, children may be taught by unfamiliar staff and they are unlikely to receive their normal lesson timetable.

Please note that there are further days of strike action planned by members of this union:

• Thursday 2nd March
• Wednesday 15th March
• Thursday 16th March

Although the school is able to remain open on this occasion, I cannot guarantee that this will be the case for these subsequent strike days. More teachers may decide to strike and so we may face greater disruption next time. This could mean that we have to close some or all classes. Please bear this in mind as a very real possibility in the forthcoming weeks.

Strikes are, of course, intended to be disruptive and we are fortunate that we have managed to minimize the disruption to you and your child on this occasion. Please take a few minutes to find out about the reasons behind the dispute so that our striking teachers’ actions can be properly recognised and understood.