Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School & Sixth Form College now confirm plans in place in response to the NEU Teachers’ strike on Tuesday 28th February 2023
On Tuesday 28th February 2023
School will be closed for all students in Year groups 7,8,9 and 10. All students in these year groups will access their learning online.
All year 11 students will be expected to come to school as normal
All year 13 Sixth Form students to come to college as normal
All year 12 students will be able to attend the UCAS convention in Manchester.
Before the half term holiday we informed all students and families of our plans in response to the second day of strike action identified by the NEU that impacts significantly on our school. It is now clear that the strike planned for tomorrow, Tuesday 28th February 2023 will go ahead. We are therefore reminding our students and families of the plans previously circulated and confirming that school will be closed for the day to year groups 7,8,9 and 10. School will reopen to all students in all year groups on Wednesday 1st March 2023.
On the first strike day 37 of our teachers did not come to school and instead took strike action. We have no reason to believe that the number of teachers taking part in the second strike day will be significantly different and we are therefore planning within those constraints.
The safety of our school community is of paramount importance. With high levels of teacher absence, there is a point where the safety of students and staff in school is compromised beyond an acceptable level. We intend to continue to implement a risk based approach to managing our school’s response to all of the current and future strikes. For our year 11 and 13 students who are working towards their national final examinations this summer, they will all be expected to come into school and college as normal.
We understand completely how difficult it can be for families to make alternative arrangements and the impact on learning when schools are closed. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this will cause. This is however a national dispute between the government and the teaching unions, not about any issues at our school.
With this in mind, moving to online learning for years 7,8,9 and 10, bringing in Year 11 and 13 and allowing the year 12 students to access the pre planned UCAS conference gives us the best chance of delivering an engaging and meaningful day of learning.
We will of course continue to update you on our plans as the dispute progresses.
Nigel Bielby
Executive Headteacher