Latest News | Blakenall Heath Junior School

Strike Action - Wednesday 1st February

Fri 27 Jan 2023

Dear Parent/Carer

Strike action

I am writing to you about the forthcoming strike action by the National Education Union (NEU), one of the main teaching trade unions. You may have seen coverage of this in the news, and I wanted to inform you about the impact this is likely to have at our school.

There are three national and one regional day strikes planned, the first of which will take place on Wednesday 1^st February 2023.

The NEU has posted a document for parents, carers and grandparents that explains their reasons for taking strike action. It can be found at https://neu.org.uk/media/24511/view if you wish to read it.

How will strike action affect Blakenall Heath Junior School

When a strike takes place, those taking strike action stop work and withdraw their labour. This means that those teachers involved in the action will not teach their class(es) or undertake any other duties on a strike day.

It is therefore incumbent upon me to consider the impact that industrial action will have on the operation of the school. One of the key issues is to assess whether there are sufficient staff available for the school to remain open, or partially open, during a strike.

To determine whether this school can remain fully or partially open, a detailed risk assessment has been conducted. This considers the impact that the action will have on the health and safety of pupils, staff and visitors, and whether the school can run a full or amended curriculum, to determine whether it is possible to operate the school safely during the strike.

As a result of this school will be open to vulnerable children and the children of critical workers only and closed to all other pupils. If you are a parent/carer of a vulnerable child, we will contact you separately to confirm your child’s attendance on strike days.

We shall provide all pupils with paper based activities to complete at home or school. Packed lunches will be provided for those pupils on free school meals and will be available for collection from school. We will be in touch with further details.

Clearly this is a difficult situation, which will cause some disruption. I would ask you, however, to be understanding. A national strike by teachers is very unusual. Taking strike action is not something that any teacher would undertake lightly. Those on strike will have thought long and hard about their decision and will also lose pay for the days that they are on strike.

If the strike is called off and we are able to open to all pupils we will confirm this as soon as possible.

Looking ahead, the NEU has indicated they will continue strike action for a further three days: Wednesday 1^st, Wednesday 15^th and Thursday 16^th March 2023. Please note these dates now and we will write to you before each date to confirm any changes to our arrangements and provision for pupils.

If you have any questions please contact the school office.

Thank you for your continued support.

Yours sincerely

Mrs M Harris

Head Teacher

NSPCC Number Day – Friday 3rd February

Wed 25 Jan 2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

Blakenall Heath will be one of thousands of schools taking part in a mega maths-inspired fundraising day to raise money for the NSPCC.

We will be holding a numbers inspired non-uniform day, examples of this could be a calculator, clock or your child’s favourite number. Pupils will take part in maths games and activities throughout the day. The suggested donation of £1.00 per child will go to the NSPCC.

If you would like further information on the work of the NSPCC or Number Day 2023, please see www.nspcc.org.uk.

Mrs M Harris

Head Teacher

Network Rail Assembly

Tue 10 Jan 2023

We had the pleasure of welcoming Network Rail into school this morning to talk to all children about being safe on our railways. We spoke about not walking on the tracks, safety at platforms and how to stay safe at level crossings. The children listened fantastically and learnt a lot from the assembly!

Vaccination UK Nasal Flu Immunisation

Tue 03 Jan 2023

Vaccination UK will be in school again on Friday 27th January to administer the nasal flu vaccine. If your child has not already received the flu vaccine and you would like them to please EITHER complete the direct email from Vaccination UK or ask your child's class teacher for a consent form. All written forms MUST be returned to school no later than Wednesday 25th January 2023.