NEU members at The Village special school in Kingsbury to strike tomorrow after paid leave cut

 

The Village School, Kingsbury

 

From Brent National Education Union

 

NEU members at The Village School, Brent- part of the Compass Learning Partnership academy trust- walk out tomorrow, angry that they have lost pay protections for pregnant and disabled staff among others

 

Teachers and support staff at the school have reached out to the Trustees to try to resolve and issue that began last year when a school policy was changed without consultation and resulted in pay cuts for staff needing hospital appointments, ante-natal appointments and carers’ leave. Trustees have acted against their own processes by not negotiating with unions and staff have been left out of pocket.

 

Over 100 members of the NEU will be on strike tomorrow and the school will be closed to all pupils. Pupils at the school have a range of complex needs, disabilities and autism.

 

Jenny Cooper of the NEU national executive, who also teachers at the school, has stated:

 

We have reached out to the trust multiple times to try to resolve this issue- the last thing we wanted was to strike- but they are not engaging with us. The Trust has four executives on salaries over £100000 but refuse to pay our frontline staff when they need to attend vital appointments. The school cannot operate without us; they will need to negotiate sooner or later

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Brent should invest in mainstream support for disabled pupils to ensure better outcomes - not alternative provision free school

This is the presentation made on behalf of Simone Aspis at theis evening's Scrutiny Committe which discussed the proposal for alternative free school provision at the Roundwood Centre:

Establishing an Alternative Provision Free Special school, which is just another special school for disabled pupils with special education needs will only limit future opportunities for this group of pupils. The evidence shows that disabled pupils, often with undiagnosed mental health issues, autism or neuropsychological conditions, educated in the segregated education system, such as in PRUs, are more likely than their mainstream school peers to experience poorer outcomes.

The government’s latest destinations data, focusing on pupils finishing their GCSEs in 2012/13, shows that nearly half (45 per cent) of young people leaving PRUs were not in education, employment, or training six months after the end of their compulsory schooling, compared to only 6 per cent of students leaving mainstream schools, and 11 per cent leaving special schools.

Furthermore, more than 50 per cent of Disabled young people with learning difficulties entering the criminal justice system said they had attended a special school at some point in their education, and similar numbers had been excluded from school. Thus, the evidence shows that Disabled pupils are at least twice as likely to be engaged in education, employment, or training if they attended a mainstream rather than a special school for Disabled pupils. What is needed is greater investment in mainstream education that is inclusive of everyone including disabled pupils.

This investment will ensure that disabled pupils will remain in mainstream education where they have better outcomes.

Simone Aspis Brent Resident in Willesden Green and Changing Perspectives Director

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