Dear Parent/Guardian
Half day strike action by teachers on 21st February
I am writing to you about the forthcoming strike action by the teaching unions in Northern Ireland. You may have seen coverage of this in the news, and I wanted to inform you about the impact that this is likely to have at our school.
When a strike takes place, those taking strike action stop work and withdraw their labour. Teachers involved
in the action will, therefore, not teach their classes or undertake any other duties before 12.00 noon on the
strike day.
A detailed risk assessment has been conducted which 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 the Principal, I and the Board of Governors have determined the school will be:
• Open for students from 12.10pm
• On arrival Year 8 students will leave their school bags in the normal place and go to the canteen for lunch
• Years 9 -14 students will go to the class that they are timetabled for (period 6) where registers will be marked, and normal classes will resume
• Year 8 students will have their registers marked period 7
• School meals will be served at the normal times.
Clearly, this is a difficult situation, which will cause some disruption. I would ask you, however, to be understanding. A 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 period that they are on strike.
Yours sincerely
___________________
Ms McLaughlin
Principal
