Dear Parents and Carers 

As you are aware, Industrial Action is happening across the country because of a national dispute between the National Education Union (NEU) and the Government over funding in schools and, as a part of this, a rise in teachers' pay. The second planned strike day which affects our College is Thursday 2^nd March 2023.

I explained prior to the last strike that, as with most schools, the majority of teachers at our College are members of the NEU and so we are again expecting significant disruption on this day. 

Whilst we will endeavour to keep the College open to as many year groups as possible, it is important to recognise that this may not be possible due to the levels of staffing we need to supervise students and therefore, we may have to move to remote learning as we did during the first strike day. 

We are still formulating a plan for Thursday 2^nd March but wanted to give you as much notice as possible that is extremely likely we will need to close the College. We will confirm this to you early next week, but please do plan childcare for the 2^nd March should you need to.

As we did during the first strike day, we will continue to cater for the children of critical workers and vulnerable children. The Government's definition of critical workers and vulnerable children can be found on page 21, 22 & 23 of this document Emergency planning and response for education, childcare, and children’s social care settings October 2022 (publishing.service.gov.uk). 

If your child is considered vulnerable and/or you are a critical work and would like your child to come into College on Thursday 2^nd March, please complete the form emailed on the 22nd February as this will help us plan ahead should we need to close the College.

If your child receives free school meals, our Pupil Premium team will be in contact with you directly regarding ordering a meal for that day. 

​Our apologies for any disruption the strike days may cause. Please rest assured we will do everything possible to minimise the impact to the learning of students. We would also like to reiterate that the dispute is between the NEU and the Government and not against our College. 

Again, our staff care passionately about the future of education in England and do their job because they are committed to providing the highest quality of education for the children in their care. 

Many thanks for your continued support. 


Regards 
Andrew Davis 
Principal