Charlton School

Dear Parents/Carers,

The next national strike day planned by the National Education Union is still scheduled to take place on Thursday 27^th April. The strike is happening because of a national dispute between the unions and the government over funding for teachers’ pay, and not because of any issues at our school. 

I’m getting in touch to give you notice about our arrangements for Thursday 27^th April. As a result of the high proportion of teaching staff involved, we will not be able to open the school fully on this day.  

As for the previous strike days, we have made the decision to only open for Year 11 students and a small, invited group of students who either have additional special educational needs, social care involvement or who we feel need to attend school. We will contact the parents/carers of this group of students individually. 

In addition to these groups, students in the following Year 10 Option A and Option D subject classes need to attend to complete coursework that is due very soon. Once the student has completed the coursework, they will be allowed to return home unless you wish for them to remain in school.

Option A                                                 Option D

Music – Mrs Wheat                                  Child development – Mrs Turner

Drama – Miss O'Hanlon

Media – Miss Littleford

Engineering – Mr Morris

Enterprise - Miss Kaur

Whilst we will do all we can to provide as near a normal school day for the Year 11 and other invited students in school, it may still be necessary to combine some classes due to staff absence brought about by the strike action.

For all other year groups, staff who are not on strike will deliver an online session via the Teams platform to their teaching groups. Students will receive a calendar invite for all available sessions. For students who do not receive a Teams invite due to the strike action, they should use the following websites and complete work following their normal school timetable:

MyMaths - https://login.mymaths.co.uk/login

Oak National Academy - https://classroom.thenational.academy/

Century Tech - https://app.century.tech/login/GCSE

GCSE Bitesize - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/z98jmp3

KS3 BBC Bitesize - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/z4kw2hv

GCSEPod - https://members.gcsepod.com/login/

Doddle - https://www.doddlelearn.co.uk/app/login

I am again sorry that some families will have to make alternative arrangements for their children again at short notice, and for the disruption to their education. We have attempted to minimise this as far as possible, following DfE guidance. I understand that this situation may be frustrating and ask that all members of our school community continue to treat each other with respect. We remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our pupils and delivering high-quality teaching.

We are working closely with our staff union representatives to keep up to date with the situation, and I will inform you as soon as possible if arrangements change further. 

If your child is entitled to receive a free school meal, packed lunches will be available for collection from the school reception from midday on the day of the strike. Please email school@charlton.uk.com by 12:00pm on Monday 24^th April, providing your child’s name, form group and a sandwich preference of cheese, ham or tuna.

I will write again next week confirming details for the next strike scheduled for Tuesday 2^nd May but expect arrangements to be similar again unless the union make a decision to change their strike action.

Yours faithfully,

Mr A McNaughton

Principal