The Chief Executive Officer of the Compass Learning Trust that runs two special schools in Brent, Woodfield School and The Village School, has issued 47 Woodfield staff with a 30 day consultation notice after which fire and rehire would be implemented:
Staff now have two options available:
Option 1 – Accept the Variation of Contract
Staff may choose to sign a variation to their contract based on the final offer outlined above by no later than 8th July 2026. Individual variation letters will be issued during the coming week.
Option 2 – Decline the Variation of Contract
Staff who choose not to sign the variation will be invited to dismissal and re-engagement meetings.
Fire and rehire is due to be outlawed in January 2027 so the Trust is moving quickly. The letter from the CEO outlines the Trust's claim that its faces a dire financial situation. This of course raises the issue of how it got into this situation. The NEU were never given these deficit details. There is no mention of the £3.8m held in reserves:
The purpose of the [proposed] restructure was to address the school’s ongoing and unsustainable financial position and to ensure its long-term viability. Woodfield School reported a deficit of £76,469 at the end of the 2023/24 financial year, which increased significantly to a net deficit of £372,422 in 2024/25. Current projections indicate that, without intervention, the deficit will increase by a further £517,790 over the next three years, resulting in a cumulative five-year projected deficit of £966,681. These figures exclude agency staffing costs, where current annual expenditure exceeds £600,000. The Trust is taking steps to bring expenditure under control.
Brent NEU has previously raised concerns over poor financial management at the school and high executive salaries. LINK The CEO addresses this:
In addition to the school-level savings identified through the restructure process, the Trust has also reviewed its central costs following discussions with the NEU regarding the level of top slice charged to schools and the cost of leadership at Trust level. As a result, the Trust has reduced the top slice by £400 per pupil. To support this reduction, following the departure of the previous CEO in April 2026, both the CEO and CFO (Chief Finance Officer) roles have been reduced to 0.6 FTE.
The management's initial proposal was to reduce the hours of support staff by 3-1/2 hours per week equating to a loss of £200 a month. Workers rejected the offer below as derisory. It reduced the reduction in hours by one hour.
An increase in contracted hours from the proposed 32.5 hours to 33.5 hours per week.
A free school lunch for affected staff, provided by the school kitchen.
A 1.30pm finish at the end of each term for all staff.
A half-day for affected staff on the October Performance Management INSET day.
30 minutes of overtime for affected staff for the completion of Behaviour Reports.
Pay protection until 28 February 2027
The NEU will continue striking and has called for massive support for its picket lines on Thursday and Friday of this week. The strike by mainly female mainly ethnic minority low paid workers recalls the struggle of Jayaben Desai and her fellow Grunwick strikers and today's school workers are equally determined.
The NEU Regional London Office will be receiving advice from senior lawyers, probably by Friday this week and meanwhile the NEU London senior officer are stressing to members that they should not sign under any circumstances- as negotiations are meant to be still ongoing, and the strike is also ongoing. The NEU will be in a stronger position legally if members do not sign and continue the campaign. Members are advised to continue the strike action to demonstrates that the workers are still in hope of an improved offer.
Even if people did sign, this would not need doing until July anyway as there is a consultation period first, giving time for a proper legal response to the letters.
The picket line is from 7.30am outside the school:
Woodfield School, Glenwood Avenue, Kingsbury, London, NW9 7LY
