Staff strike at primary school without home
BBCPrimary school pupils have joined parents and teachers on the picket line in a dispute over excessive workload and compensation.
Staff at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, had to evacuate the school in January 2023 when a routine inspection found the floor was rotten and at risk of collapse.
Since then, staff have worked across multiple sites under what they describe as exceptional working arrangements. Members of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) walked out earlier and are due to do the same on Wednesday.
Further strike action is planned for 9 and 10 November at the school, which is part of the Mater Christi Trust.
The trust said it "sincerely hoped" strike action could have been avoided and apologised to parents for the disruption caused.
Provisions had been made for vulnerable children, with food available for any child entitled to a free school meal, it said.
The walk-out follows the failure of negotiations and conciliation through Acas to resolve the long-standing dispute, which also centres on staff wellbeing and health and safety concerns.
Speaking to BBC Cumbria on the picket line, Sacred Heart headteacher Simone Beach said she "wanted better" for her pupils.
"It's just really hard to sustain this level of workload, the working hours for this length of time, and our children deserve teachers in front of them who are not exhausted," she said.
"There have been positive negotiations with the trust - what we want today is for those talks to continue so we can get the best for our children, and our school and our community."
'Sacrificed wellbeing'
NAHT senior regional head Natasha Nicholson said the decision to strike was only considered after "every reasonable effort" to secure a negotiated settlement was exhausted.
She said staff had "worked exceptionally long hours, undertaken significant additional duties and, in many cases, sacrificed their own wellbeing in order to keep the school operating effectively".
"School leaders should be appropriately compensated where substantial additional work has been required over an extended period, particularly where that work arises from extraordinary circumstances beyond their control."
The Mater Christi Trust said additional demands had already been recognised but it could not support a payment for overtime over the first two years of the split-site period, adding it supported 16 schools with finite resources.
Both sides said they remained open discussions to reach an agreed resolution.