Teachers strike over 'abusive' pupil behaviour

3 hours ago

Maisie LillywhiteGloucestershire

News image — Teachers Ian Brownhill and Zoe Pugh say Tewkesbury Academy is becoming increasingly unsafe as a result of the behaviour exhibited by some students

More than 50 members of staff at a school have gone on strike after experiencing abusive and disruptive behaviour from some students.

Wednesday marked the first of five days of industrial action held by teachers and staff from Tewkesbury Academy in Gloucestershire after being unsatisfied by the school's response to the behaviour.

Wendy Exton from The Teachers' Union (NASUWT) said the reason for the strike was "extremely rare" but "teachers here have had enough".

A school spokesperson said it was "surprised and saddened that unions have opted for action despite the significant progress which has been made in our talks".

Hundreds oppose plans for new Forest of Dean town

Cancer survivor turns trauma into art in short film

Two people taken to hospital after bus crash

Ian Brownhill, a PE teacher who has taught at Tewkesbury Academy for 36 years, said the school is "losing good kids" as a result of the behaviour, which includes children going "on the rampage around site most lessons".

Brownhill said: "They are disrupting lessons, they're getting thrown out of lessons, and they're not going to where they should be going to.

"Truancy is rife at the minute."

In July 2023, a Tewkesbury Academy student stabbed maths teacher Jamie Samson in the corridor, prompting the school and two others nearby to go into lockdown.

Samson was discharged from hospital the same day and the student, who was not named for legal reasons, was sentenced to 14 months detention.

A large group of staff gathers outside Tewkesbury Academy on a dreary February morning. They are wrapped up warm and holding blue union flags as they stand on the pavement and cycle path. A female police officer is stood among them, as are picket supporters wearing pink hi-vis tabards. — Teachers and staff will strike for five days

Zoe Pugh, head of year ten, said she felt increasingly unsafe at the school.

She added there was "frustration over the lack of consistency" with the current behaviour policy.

"Quite often, you don't quite know what you're allowed to do with each student, you don't know what policy is being applied to them at the time," Pugh said.

"It's just quite frustrating because you feel like your hands are tied."

A woman in her 40s with a short dirty blonde bob. She is wearing makeup, a navy fleece, and a green hi-vis tabard as she stands in front of a picket line of teachers and staff outside a school. The teachers are wrapped up warm with coats and hats in the cold weather, and are holding up blue union flags. — Wendy Exton said teachers and staff had told her around 70 pupils had been causing problems at Tewkesbury Academy

Exton said the union had been in negotiations regarding the behaviour of "about 70" students since early November.

"They've got a small cohort of students who are just doing exactly what they please, not attending lessons, being verbally abusive and disruptive," Exton said of the school.

"Management are refusing to put in place any strategies to deal with this group."

Exton added the behaviour was affecting the learning of other students, and staff taking industrial action want to see an "effective discipline policy" with the use of permanent exclusion in "very rare circumstances".

A Tewkesbury Academy spokesperson said: "We remain firmly committed to negotiating in good faith to reduce disruption for families and to ensure all children in our town can enjoy a good education and success in life."

Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.