Outwood Grange: Strike action set in row over extended school day
'Genuine consultation'
Strike action is planned for 3, 10 and 11 June, and for three days from 17 June.Pickets will be in place at Outwood Grange Academy in Kirkby, and Outwood Academy Portland and Outwood Academy Valley, both in Worksop, from 07:30 to 09:00 BST on each of the above days.Nick Raine, the NEU's senior regional officer for the East Midlands region, said members "voted overwhelmingly" for strike action because they said they were not given a say on the changes."They decided to unilaterally extend the school day - to put extra lesson time in, etc - without consulting with us or our members," he said."Our members are dissatisfied, because they believe this will increase workload dramatically at a time when we've already got fewer resources, and stretched members and class sizes, and where we've got trouble retaining teachers."Members want to negotiate with Outwood Grange to come to some sort of reasonable agreement that would suit both parties, but so far we've been unable to do that."Outwood Grange Academies Trust said it is "exceptionally disappointed" at the strike action, adding its current arrangement means its school day is "short of the government's 32.5-hour-a-week minimum expectation"."The small change we have proposed will mean students can learn more and achieve even stronger outcomes, and will still mean the school day is within the time as set out in the government's school teachers' pay and conditions document," a statement said."We have approached this as a genuine consultation and have taken on board feedback to make changes to our original proposal."
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