Parents pulling kids from Essex school as teachers’ strike for nine weeks and government urged to intervene
Students at Grays Convent, all-girls Catholic school, have only been getting two days of lessons a week
Pupils at a secondary school in Essex have lost around 20 days of lessons, as teachers walked out in a dispute over plans to restructure.
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Grays Convent, an all-girls catholic school in Thurrock, has been forced to cancel classes three days a week since the start of May because of the strike.
The school says it's urgently trying to “stabilise current difficulties” before the end of the term.
Parents have raised concerns about the impact of missed education on the prospects of their children, as they called for the education secretary to intervene.
Some have already taken the decision to withdraw their daughters from the school in frustration, to move them elsewhere or begin homeschooling.
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Lisa, whose daughter is in Year 9, told LBC: “There’s no benefit for her just going in two days a week at the moment.
“I’ve deregistered her and I will be joining her to an online school and looking for other courses she can take, which will be much better for her.
“These children are also the generation that were impacted a lot in primary school, and this strike has unsettled their routine again. I do worry about what it will mean for their futures.”
A former pupil of Grays Convent Secondary herself, Lisa added that the school has always been a great place that excelled.
“My mum told me people would travel far distances so their children could go there, and I sent my daughter there because they excel.
“And the reason they excel is due to the structure that they now want to change.”
LBC understands the proposed restructure put forward by Grays Convent includes changes to TLR payments, for teaching and learning responsibilities over and above day to day lessons.
Unions say the school also wants to make several redundancies in senior leadership positions.
Kim Vollerthun, regional organiser at the NASUWT union, told LBC that some teachers have already resigned over the way the proposals have been presented.
“If this goes ahead, there will be utter chaos in the school because it doesn't appear that any of the teachers agree that what is proposed will work, or that they wish to apply for any of the new roles that are being created.
“So that it appears that there's nobody that will be available to fill those roles.
“Teachers at this moment have lost total trust in the governing body and the passion that they have for the school is sadly being eroded.
“There is a real danger that this will have very, very serious consequences for the education of the students.”
A statement from the school didn’t address questions about the specifics of the restructure but did say that the walkout by teachers has caused “a distressing time for our students, parents and carers, and staff.”
Another parent at the school, Dionne, told LBC she’d calculated that her oldest child, in Year 10, had missed out on more than 90 hours of education.
“She's going to be at a significant disadvantage when she sits down to her GCSEs next year. Even if they go back into school tomorrow, that's 20 days of learning that they have to catch up on.
“Assuming they can even do that, what's the impact of that on the children? The mental load of knowing that you've got to catch up 90 hours of learning across next year, in addition to GCSEs already being very difficult.
“And the Department of Education, when they talk about attendance, say every day lost is time lost that cannot be made up.”
“So of course my number one concern is her education and her future.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: “We’ve taken action to restore teaching as the highly valued profession it should be.
“This includes boosting pay, and tackling poor pupil behaviour, high workload, and poor wellbeing so more teachers stay on in the profession and thrive.
“We urge those involved to work together to resolve this situation as quickly as possible and minimise the impact on education.”
A statement to LBC from Grays Convent Secondary School read: “The situation is now being given urgent attention by the Gaudete Trust, which supports the school as a member.
“Working with the school we intend to ensure that the current difficulties are stabilised before the end of term.
“We have contacted the unions and asked for an urgent meeting. We have asked an independent investigator to consider any parent complaints.
“This is a distressing time for our students, parents and carers, and staff.”