Teachers from NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union at Banovallum School and Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, both in Horncastle, are due to begin four days of strike action tomorrow (Monday) over the detrimental impact of job cuts and changes to working conditions on teacher workload.

The Horncastle Education Trust, which runs both schools, is making seven voluntary staff redundancies and is proposing to cut the time allocated to teachers for planning, preparation and assessment from 15% of timetabled teaching time to 10%.

Strike action is planned for 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th May. NASUWT teachers will be picketing outside the school on each strike day between approximately 8am and 9am.
 
Matt Wrack, NASUWT General Secretary, said:

“Teachers working for the Trust are deeply worried about the impact of job cuts on their workloads and working hours. They are being expected to simply absorb the impact of these redundancies, including through a reduction in the amount of time provided for them to undertake essential lesson planning, marking and assessment.

“These plans not only threaten their welfare and professionalism, they also threaten the standard of learning provided to pupils.

“Teachers’ working conditions directly affect pupils’ learning conditions. The Trust’s plans undermine both and teachers have been left with no other option than to take this stand for themselves and their students.”  

Anne Thompson, NASUWT National Executive Member for Lincolnshire, said:

“The impact of the cuts to staffing will inevitably drive up teachers’ workloads, reducing the amount of time they have to focus on meeting pupils’ needs, particularly those children with SEND and other additional needs.

“Teachers are being expected to do more with less time to do so.

“The Trust must withdraw the planned cuts to planning and preparation time and work with us on a way forward which does not hinge on teachers undermining their own health and welfare by taking on additional workload and working time.”