Teachers strike on Thursday

milliebear00001

starsandmoon wrote: »

My DD's school is shut on Thursday. Luckily its a day I dont work. I can see why they are doing it but if only half of them are striking and some schools stay open I carnt see how they will be taken seriously.

The main reason only some are striking is because one of the biggest unions (NASUWT) didn't ballot for strike action and so its members will have to go into work. This autumn, all the unions, and the biggest Headteachers' union are also likely to ballot for action and so many more schools are likely to close then, unless this is resolved amicably beforehand.

Spendless

jellyhead wrote: »

Our letter from high school says 2 of the unions are striking, so it all depends on which unions the staff at your school are in, and if a significant number will be striking. Some schools will be able to work around it.

There must be a lot striking at ours, because they usually keep school open for the year 10 and 11s wherever possible, and send the younger kids home.

That's what has happened at my local Secondary. Though it's years 9 and 10 being kept at school. Yr 11s have taken their exams.

bonbannah wrote: »

Teachers who aren't striking are not supposed to be asked to cover striking teachers. Some headteachers/ deputy heads will be trying to cover lessons themselves, even if this means putting two or three classes in the hall and putting a film on.

Schools won't officially know until Monday whether NUT and ATL staff will be striking as this is when negotiations are supposed to take place, so this will explain why some schools haven't even mentioned it yet.

Thank you, that was helpful to know why info hadn't been readily available from the school. I saw some posters on another thread saying they'd been told by their employer they'd had time to make childcare arrangements since they'd had notice by now, and them saying that actually they hadn't.

Surfbabe wrote: »

Staff don't even have to tell the school if they are striking - they can just not turn up. The school I work in is closing one class (our teachers have told the head whether they are striking or not - she is not allowed to ask them if they are - they volunteered the information) and the head is covering another one. You can't use supply teachers to cover and striking staff lose a days pay as well

Interesting. Mine go to a Junior school, so a lot of kids especially in the older years walk to school by themselves, and the parents set off to work, so they wouldn't be in the playground to know that their class wasn't going ahead.

milliebear00001

Spendless wrote: »

Interesting. Mine go to a Junior school, so a lot of kids especially in the older years walk to school by themselves, and the parents set off to work, so they wouldn't be in the playground to know that their class wasn't going ahead.

The school would have to take the kids in this instance. The idea of not telling the Head whether you're going to be in, is that s/he is then forced to close the school in order to give parents enough notice, and avoid the possibility of not having enough staff to make it legally possible to open on the day of the strike.

ViolaLass

Does anyone know what happens to non-striking teachers at a school that closes? Do they just get the day off? Do they get paid? I'm assuming yes but this thread has taught me a couple of things already so I'm open to being corrected.

milliebear00001

ViolaLass wrote: »

Does anyone know what happens to non-striking teachers at a school that closes? Do they just get the day off? Do they get paid? I'm assuming yes but this thread has taught me a couple of things already so I'm open to being corrected.

They have to come into school and work. Otherwise they are in breach of their contract. They get paid.

morganb

ViolaLass wrote: »

Does anyone know what happens to non-striking teachers at a school that closes? Do they just get the day off? Do they get paid? I'm assuming yes but this thread has taught me a couple of things already so I'm open to being corrected.

No, we don't get the day off. I work part-time on a Thursday and, as my Union is not striking, I am required to go into work on Thursday for my allocated number of hours. Yes, I will get paid because I am not striking. I will be writing reports / marking books / making resources / making and putting up a display / getting things in place for September / writing handover notes for new teacher, etc., etc., so I have quite a bit to keep me busy.

morganb

Spendless wrote: »

Interesting. Mine go to a Junior school, so a lot of kids especially in the older years walk to school by themselves, and the parents set off to work, so they wouldn't be in the playground to know that their class wasn't going ahead.

Well in this case it's probably a good idea for parents to hang around on Thursday, if they haven't received any notification from the school beforehand.

freddie_2

No problems here - Our school holidays start on Thursday!

msb5262

milliebear00001 wrote: »

They have to come into school and work. Otherwise they are in breach of their contract. They get paid.

Under some circumstances, non-striking teachers are directed to work from home as it isn't always practicable for them to come into school. In any case, non-striking staff will be paid as usual.

Spendless

morganb wrote: »

Well in this case it's probably a good idea for parents to hang around on Thursday, if they haven't received any notification from the school beforehand.

They wouldn't know to do that though would they? :cool: Unless they have have been reading this thread or are similarly informed. Parents will take the view that if the school hasn't said it will or may be closed, it will therefore be open.