Charlton School

Wednesday 28^th June 2023

Dear Parents/Carers,

The next national strike days planned by the National Education Union are still scheduled to take place on Wednesday 5^th July and Friday 7^th July. The strikes are happening because of the ongoing national dispute between the unions and the government over funding for teachers’ pay, and not because of any issues at our school. 

I’m getting in touch to give you notice about our arrangements for Wednesday 5^th July and Friday 7^th July.  As a result of the high proportion of teaching staff involved, we will not be able to open the school fully on these days.  The Charltonbury event scheduled for the evening of 7^th July will go ahead as planned.

On the strike days, we have made the decision to only open for Year 10 students and a small, invited group of students who either have additional special educational needs, social care involvement or who we feel need to attend school. We will contact the parents/carers of this group of students individually. 

Whilst we will do all we can to provide as near a normal school day for Year 10, it may still be necessary to combine some classes due to staff absence brought about by the strike action.  For the other invited students in school, they will follow a different timetable set up specifically for the strike days.

For all other year groups, staff who are not on strike will deliver an online session via the Teams platform to their teaching groups. Students will receive a calendar invite for all available sessions. For students who do not receive a Teams invite due to the strike action, they should use the following websites and complete work following their normal school timetable:

MyMaths - https://login.mymaths.co.uk/login

Oak National Academy - https://classroom.thenational.academy/

Century Tech - https://app.century.tech/login/GCSE

GCSE Bitesize - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/z98jmp3

KS3 BBC Bitesize - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/z4kw2hv

GCSEPod - https://members.gcsepod.com/login/

Doddle - https://www.doddlelearn.co.uk/app/login

I am again sorry that some families will have to make alternative arrangements for their children again at short notice, and for the disruption to their education. We have attempted to minimise this as far as possible, following DfE guidance. I understand that this situation may be frustrating and ask that all members of our school community continue to treat each other with respect. We remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our pupils and delivering high-quality teaching.

We are working closely with our staff union representatives to keep up to date with the situation, and I will inform you as soon as possible if arrangements change further. 

If your child is entitled to receive a free school meal and not in school on that day, packed lunches will be available for collection from the school reception from midday on the day of the strikes. Please email school@charlton.uk.com by 12:00pm on Monday 3^rd July, providing your child’s name, form group and a sandwich preference of cheese, ham or tuna.

Thank you for your continued support.

Yours faithfully,

Mr A McNaughton

Principal