Further strikes on the horizon for Horncastle schools

In total, there have to date been seven days of industrial action taken by NEU and NASUWT members at the Trust in May and June, which runs The Banovallum School and Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Horncastle, New York and Frithville Primary School near Boston and Huttoft Primary School near Mablethorpe.

The dispute is over job-losses and cuts after Horncastle Education Trust imposed a staffing restructure because of what it described as “extremely high financial challenges”.

And the industrial action forced the schools to either close or restrict the number of its lessons, meaning hundreds of pupils had to stay at home.

Representatives from the two teachers’ unions involved met trustees at the end of term and ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service), the mediation body that helps to resolve employment disputes, was to host crunch talks with the two parties for a third time.

On July 22, the unions organised an online meeting with parents to give them a full update before the schools break up until September.

The unions describe the proposed measures at the schools as “catastrophic” and say they would “decimate schools, raise class-sizes and adversely affect the most vulnerable pupils”.

Teachers’ workloads would be increased because of staff cuts, reducing the amount of time they had for essential lesson-planning, preparation, marking and assessment.

For the trust, chief executive officer Sandra James insists the restructure would “secure the quality of teaching, support and student safety, in addition to achieving financial savings”.

She accepted that it was “a heartbreaking situation to be in” and added: “The potential impact of a restructure of this nature cannot be under-estimated.”

Mrs James is pinning her hopes on “helpful” meetings with ACAS resolving the dispute. She said: “There are so many positive things across our schools that we all want to build upon, and we will continue to work tirelessly to find a way forward.”