Dear Parent/Carer,

I am writing to you to share information about the planned teacher strikes over the next couple of months. As you may know from the national media, the National Education Union (NEU) has announced strike action in the North West and England on the following dates: 1 February; 28 February; and 15 and 16 March 2023. This is not action against the school but is about concerns over teachers’ pay and the overall funding for schools, which is damaging to every child’s education and leading to challenges recruiting and retaining school staff. These issues affect MHS as much as they do all schools.

I am writing to share the school’s plans, so far, for operating safely and sensibly on the first strike day of Wednesday, 1 February.  As a headteacher I have carefully considered all the information I have available for our school and whether I can open school safely either to some or all of our children.   What follows is the description of how we will be operating on February 1^st.  The position for each school will be different so our arrangements may well differ from those of other schools.

Please be assured that there is a full risk assessment in place which looks at contingency plans for the school.

In our school the arrangements will be as follows:

1) The school will be closed to students in years 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Remote learning will not be available on the day of the strike. The school will provide some suggested work that students can complete independently via satchel one, and we encourage all learners to spend some time reading. Reading is hugely beneficial to all learners and we recommend learners take the opportunity to read. All of our students can access over 1250 ebooks and 500 audio books free on our ‘Hub online’ which is accessed via the school website.

2) The school will be fully open to all students in year 11.

The whole year group has two trial exams that day, and we are confident we can safely supervise the students who may have no teacher for the lessons in between. Students should attend as normal in full school uniform, and should bring suitable revision materials in case they have a lesson with no direct teaching.

Whilst the plans may change right up to the day of the strike itself, we are very confident we can manage the plan below even if more than expected staff are absent.

We will be able to provide accommodation for the most vulnerable learners on the day of the strike. If you believe that your child meets this criteria and wish to book a place, then please follow the link here. *Updated 31-1-2023: the deadline for requesting a place has now passed*

Students will attend normal lessons where their teacher is in school, and will be supervised to do independent work where their teacher is absent.

Also, the parents of any child who normally receives a benefits-related Free School Meal, who will not be in school on 1^st February, should also follow this link and complete the final question of the form if a meal is required. These meals will be available for collection before the end of the day on Tuesday 31^st January from Bradshaw canteen. Only pre-booked meals, via the form, will be available. *Updated 31-1-2023: the deadline for requesting a meal has now passed*

As arrangements can only be provisional at this stage, any further changes will be communicated via the edulink app and posted on the ‘news’ section of the school website.

We will of course be re-visiting our plans as we approach the second day of strike action.  I will continue to keep you informed about future decisions.

I thank you for your patience and understanding.

Best wishes,

Joe Barker

Headteacher

My blog this week consists of four short updates:

Academisation consultation reminder

A reminder that we are in the middle of our consultation into whether MHS should convert to academy status, and to form a Multi Academy Trust with Romiley Primary School. Details of the proposal, and how to respond, can be found here. So far we have had some very thought provoking discussions with people either in person over email, and more opinions are definitely welcome.

The next milestone for the class of 2023

Our Year 11s are a week away from the next big step in their journey to the GCSE exam season – the trial exams. These are a really important stage of a student’s final year at school and we are confident that students are taking them seriously. Hard work now pays off not just for the trial exams, but for the real thing too. Good luck!

‘It’s not Ok’

Next week we are embarking on an important but potentially controversial initiative in school to raise awareness of the issues of harmful sexual behaviour, misogyny and sexual abuse. The initiative is named ‘It’s not ok’, a simple but powerful statement that we will not tolerate sexual harassment in any form, from anyone to anyone, and that we will empower people to be brave and call out any inappropriate behaviour. At the same time, we will endeavour to educate young people on the toxic side of high-profile influencers such as Andrew Tate. We are aware that these may be concerning issues to parents and families, so please get in touch if you have any worries.

Potential strike action

One of the main teaching unions, the NEU, has voted for strike action on four days – 1^st Feb, 28^th Feb, 15^th March and 16^th March. Not all our teachers are members of the NEU, but some are and some colleagues may well decide to take strike action. I do not yet know what impact this action will have on school, but I am actively working on the different scenarios and hope to be able to communicate with families well in advance of the strike day so that you know what is happening. However, it is important to note that the situation can change right up to the day of the strike itself, and so some last minute decision may have to be made. Finally, please don’t make any assumptions about what may happen here based on what you hear from other schools. Some schools have no members of the NEU on their staff and so will already be able to announce that it will be ‘business as usual’, others have many members and may be able to announce early that their school or certain year groups will not be able to attend. At MHS we are somewhere in the middle, and so working out the exact plan will take more time.

Have a good weekend,

Joe

Welcome back, I hope you all had a fantastic festive break and New Year.

It was great to spend some time with the parents and carers of our Year 11 cohort last night at parents evening. As a class teacher I always appreciate the chance to speak to parents/carers in private about how students are doing, and it’s brilliant when everyone is so clearly pulling in the same direction. Year 11 are shaping up well and have the potential to achieve very highly in the summer exams, and of course we will be there supporting them as best we possibly can.

I thought I’d use the opportunity of this blog to cover a few of the questions that have come back in following the launch of our academisation consultation on Monday. These questions have come from various sources including parents, staff and students – and there is no such thing as a silly question!

I hope they help,

Thanks

Joe

1) Is it the case that only failing schools become academies?

When modern academies were first created before 2010, they were indeed for those schools that were deemed to be failing. However, for the past decade or more any school has been able to convert to academy status should they wish to. For example the majority of secondary schools have now done so (the proportion is 80%), including some of the very best schools in the country. The majority of schools who convert do so voluntarily and from a position of strength, which is the case here. Marple Hall School and Romiley Primary School are both solidly ‘good’ schools according to Ofsted, with strong educational outcomes in both schools in recent years.

2) Will the school lose autonomy?

At the moment the school is officially controlled by the Local Authority in Stockport, but in reality we are very independent. However should MHS join another, existing Multi Academy Trust, then the school may well lose a lot of that autonomy. Therefore by forming our own MAT we ensure we retain independence and the ability to make our own decisions, and in fact will gain even more independence than before.

3) Will the school name and/or uniform change?

No, not at all. This is the benefit of forming our own MAT alongside Romiley Primary School. Both schools will retain their unique features, they will keep the current uniform and the school name

4) Will the schools get more money?

Yes, and no, at the same time! No because the amount of funding allocated per pupil at each school won’t change. We’ll get the same funds compared to what we would have done as a Local Authority school. However, we will be able to negotiate our own contracts for products and services, and we know from the past decade of already doing this that we can often find better services and cheaper prices than are available through the LA. Also, as an academy, we will be eligible to access more money to improve our buildings and grounds than is open to LA schools. At the moment we have to use some of our base funding to fix issues with the site and buildings, and so by accessing other pots of money for this we will be able to spend more on educating the students. So, even though per pupil funding will not rise, we may well have more to spend as a school overall.

5) Why haven’t other primary schools been asked to join?

We’re keen to work with all local primary schools and would be happy to have conversations with headteachers and governors. We respect that every school has its own decision to make about academisation between now and 2030 (when all schools are, in theory, supposed to have converted) but we’re happy to speak to all local schools when convenient to them.