Teachers at two schools slated for closure have voted to go on strike over job losses.
Every teacher who belongs to the National Education Union at St Bartholomew’s School in Brighton voted yes, and 90% of teachers at St Peter’s Community School in Portslade – with the other 10% not voting.
The teachers will als be joined by parents and supporters outside Hove Town Hall between 3pm-4pm on Monday as members of Brighton and Hove City Counci’s Children, Families and School’s Committee meets.
The committee is due to decide whether to begin a statutory consultation on the closure of the two schools. Strike dates will be decided in the coming weeks.
The unionis calling on the Labour administration to stick to its pre-election manifesto promise to ‘keeping schools open’ and withdraw the proposal to close the Schools as well as withdraw proposals to reduce PAN numbers in six other schools in the City.
It has called on the council to look at alternatives to closure and PAN reductions and has accused the administration of shortsightedness.
Nick Childs, NEU senior regional officer said: “These resounding ballot results indicate the depth of feeling at both schools and the sense of betrayal members feel at the way the council have behaved towards there schools.
“The closure of the schools is not necessary. Indeed, it is exceedingly short sighted.
“Pupil admission numbers have been falling in recent years, but these fluctuate over time depending on birth rates and range of other factors.
“Once a school is closed the local authority is not permitted to reopen new schools.
“Labour made a specific commitment to ‘keeping schools open’ in their 2023 manifesto. Once elected they appear to have backtracked on their commitment within months.
“Both schools provide and excellent education to their respective communities and we appeal to the council to listen to teachers, parents and the local communities and withdraw these damaging and unnecessary proposals immediately.”
Cllr Taylor said: “We completely understand why teachers at these two schools are upset about the proposals, and concerned about their jobs.
“As we proceed with the closure process, we will make the council redeployment scheme available to all staff, and will work with other schools in the city to facilitate further redeployment opportunities.
“We want the brilliant staff at these schools to stay within the education system in Brighton and Hove.
“The city faces a very severe problem with falling pupil numbers, and schools that are underfunded by government as a result.
“For Nick Childs to say that we should abandon all these proposals, including the reduction in PANs at 6 schools, seems to imply he has a very poor understanding of the underlying situation.
“Indeed, headteachers from 40 primary schools in the city wrote to me earlier in the year and said: ‘We as head teachers all know that we have many school places in the city that are surplus to current requirements and, due to chronic and continuous underfunding, some good schools are not currently financially viable. When will this issue be properly addressed?’
“It is slightly concerning that NEU staff are being represented by someone who seems to have such a poor grasp of the issue we face in our city schools.”
More Labour lies
It’s definitely not an easy thing this and many people aren’t going to understand the reasoning on a pragmatic level.
If the number of students significantly decreases, schools find it financially unsustainable to maintain their operations. Low enrollment can lead to inadequate funding, making it challenging to employ an appropriate number of teachers to maintain an acceptable PAN. In such cases, aiming to consolidate resources and ensure a more efficient distribution of students and staff across other institutions is the intelligent thing to do.
However, I respect how it effects staff and displaces children.
All power to them. It is scandalous Labour have broken their promises by targetting schools like this. The birth rate will go up again soon. It has always fluctuated so it is ridiculous to go for the nuclear option rather than smaller classes and more pupil attention.
It’s a budgeting issue that they can’t tighten their purse strings, pay people less and stop wasting money on shit no one asked for. So our children have to suffer. Ridiculous.
I wonder at what level we should close a school ? Or are people proposing that we keep a school open if there is just one pupil ? Or two ? Or 20 ? Serious question.