Teachers' strike extended by nine days

A strike by teachers at a trust that runs schools across the West Midlands has been extended for a further nine days.

Twenty schools belonging to the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP) have been involved in the dispute over plans to cut jobs, initiated by members of the National Education Union (NEU).

Now, the NEU has announced the strike would be extending from nine dates to 18, and that the four schools in the trust not currently taking part in the industrial action would be re-balloted at the request of members.

The ATLP's trust said the need to cut staff was the result of "significant overstaffing", which a spokesperson said had been masked by an accounting error in 2022-23.

Staff began a nine-day strike last Wednesday, and are currently at the picket lines until Friday, with a further strike taking place from 26-29 January.

The extra dates for action are from 2-5 February and 9-13 February. A demonstration is also set to take place in Birmingham's Victoria Square on Thursday morning.

A spokesperson for the NEU said "proposed large-scale redundancies will have a detrimental impact on the support that children in our trust receive", saying 100 jobs would be lost across the trust.

In a statement on its website, the ATLP trust denied the "central team" was facing cuts, adding final plans were yet to be consulted on and that suggesting the proposals would lead to an increased workload for staff was "misleading".

Chris Denson, joint secretary of Coventry NEU, said the response from parents and the public to the strike had been huge.

"Massive pickets and demonstrations with very vocal parental support has shown that there is widespread backing of teachers and support staff in making this important stand to defend the education of the children in our schools," he said.

The four schools that will be re-balloted are The Bridge Academy Lichfield, Greysbrooke Primary in Shenstone, Brookvale Primary in Erdington and Dunstall Park Primary, Tamworth.

The 20 schools already involved in industrial action are:

• Anna Seward Primary, Lichfield

• Coton Green Primary, Tamworth

• Curdworth Primary, Sutton Coldfield

• Deykin Avenue Junior and Infant, Witton, Birmingham

• Hill West Primary, Sutton Coldfield

• Mere Green Primary, Four Oaks

• Osborne Primary, Erdington, Birmingham

• Paget Primary, Pype Hayes, Birmingham

• Scotch Orchard Primary, Lichfield

• Slade Primary, Erdington

• St Chad's CE Primary, Lichfield

• St Michael's C of E Primary, Lichfield

• William MacGregor Primary School, Tamworth

• Two Gates Primary School, Tamworth

• The Coleshill School, Warwickshire

• The Royal Sutton School, Sutton Coldfield

• Nether Stowe School, Lichfield, Staffordshire

• Stockland Green School, Erdington, Birmingham

• The Arthur Terry School, Sutton Coldfield

• West Coventry Academy, Coventry

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