School closure due to industrial action: Wednesday 15th & Thursday 16th March

As parents and carers are aware, there is ongoing national disruption to schools planned by the NEU (National Education Union) as part of industrial strike action. Our school so far has been unable to deliver teaching to Y7-11 on the previous dates of strike action and unfortunately we are in the same position on the forthcoming dates of Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th March next week. 

We have looked again very carefully at the possibility of opening up to Year 11 for even a half day timetable, but we simply have too many lessons affected. We are not the only secondary school in North Tyneside in this position and have looked at every date independently lesson by lesson and year group by year group; it has not been an easy decision each time to close. Please remember that this disruption is not aimed specifically at our school, but is a national campaign affecting the whole of England. As our school has higher NEU membership than some neighbouring secondary schools, we are impacted more severely. 

As a result, school will be closed to Years 7-11 on Wednesday and Thursday next week, with the following mitigations:

 

  • We have the capacity to open to limited numbers of key worker children / vulnerable children who cannot safely stay at home on this date. We can only supervise students working independently in the SSC with non-NEU learning support staff and/or the senior team. They will not be able to attend any taught lessons. Please email SEND@longbenton.org.uk if you would like to request your child’s attendance on these dates.

  • School will be open for Year 11 students to come in and work in a supervised independent study capacity, should they so wish. This is optional/not compulsory. Please note that the kitchen will not be open, so students will need to bring a packed lunch. If your Year 11 child would like to come to school to study on that date, please get in touch with Mrs McPherson, Y11 RSL. Students will have computer access and will be able to work on NEA (coursework) or exam revision for mock exams.

  • School will be open for Year 12 and 13 lessons - there will, however, be significant disruption and some lessons will be cancelled. Students will need to liaise with Ms Potts, Head of Sixth Form, and check Google Classroom for updates (lessons at GSHS should be mainly unaffected and will go ahead as usual).