School shut as teachers’ strike action continues

ANEWPORT secondary school was closed to all pupils yesterday as teachers continued their strike action prompted by funding cuts.

Members of teaching unions the NASUWT and the NEU at Caerleon comprehensive are in a dispute over staff restructuring and job cuts.

They say the job restructure, which will see heads of subject departments replaced with fewer heads of faculties, in line with the new Welsh curriculum which is designed to join related subjects into faculties, will have a massive affect on pupils’ performance.

According to Neil Butler, the national official for Wales of the NASUWT, some staff at the school are being “demoted” because of the changes being brought in ahead of the new curriculum.

He said the teachers at Caerleon are standing up to the cuts because of the damage it will do to students at the school.

“They are going to lose the middle leaders, the people who are responsible for the academic achievements of the school. We don’t think councillors understand the damage that this is going to do to the education of children in Wales and, in particular, children in Caerleon.”

Teachers from the school held a three-day strike earlier this month and later took their protest to Newport Council offices.

A leaflet produced by teachers at the school said: “No progress has been made regarding our funding concerns,” following the protest at the civic centre.

Their strike follows action at Llanwern High, which was shut to all pupils in all years, except those in year 11, for three days in January.

“It will affect those pupils doing their GCSEs and A Levels the most. Both those qualifications will still be there, but the leaders of those qualifications are being removed,” added Mr Butler. The changes will also impact children with additional learning needs, claimed Debbie Scott, Senior Wales Officer of the NEU, who was supporting teachers at the strike action.

“The teachers here aren’t just concerned about job losses, it is about the affect these changes will have on children, particularly those with additional learning needs,” said Ms Scott.

“Staff are concerned that children with additional learning needs will be forced into mainstream classes and they are concerned about the impact it will have on them,” she added.

In a letter to Councillor Gail Giles, cabinet member for education and skills, and Newport’s interim Chief Executive Sheila Davies, earlier this month, NASUWT officials said the plans included no guarantee of discreet classes for pupils with additional learning needs.

The letter said: “Current standards may not be able to be maintained as teachers will be expected to teach larger classes without specialist input for those with ALN.” The letter stressed Caerleon Comprehensive had suffered from “historic and prolific” underfunding.

Ms Scott said there had been a lot of support for the teachers from people in the area yesterday morning.

She added that the NEU had written to the local authority to ask for a meeting to address the issue.

Both Ms Scott and Mr Butler stressed that one of the main concerns about the schools introducing the new curriculum at this stage stemmed from the Education Minister for Wales, Kirsty Williams’ comments in January that schools should not rush to implement it.

Ms Williams said she expected to publish the curriculum’s implementation plan after Easter, adding: “Schools should not rush into trying to plan for this. Schools should take space and time to understand the model of the curriculum.”

The school is facing more days of action on March 10, 11 and 12.

Newport council has been asked to comment.