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Strike action - Parent letter - 5th & 7th July 2023

26th June 2023

Dear Parent/Carer,

I am writing to you in relation to the proposed industrial action scheduled to take place on Wednesday 5th and Friday 7th July.

All decisions are made with the ultimate aim of opening the school to as many students as possible whilst ensuring the safety of both the students and staff. As with the previous days of industrial action, staff are not required to inform me whether they are intending to take strike action or not. This means that the actual number of staff who will be in school will remain unconfirmed until the day itself. However, taking account of the staffing level on the previous strike days, my intention is to open the school to the following Year Groups:

Year 7:

School will be open for all Year 7 lessons on both Wednesday 5th of July and Friday 7th July. Where teachers are not in school, lessons will be collapsed with alternative lessons and activities taking place. All Year 7s will need to ensure that they bring their PE kit to school on the day as some of the alternative activities may require them to get changed.

Year 8:

School will be open for all Year 8 lessons on Wednesday 5th of July but will be closed for all Year 8 students on Friday 7th July. Where teachers are not in school, lessons will be collapsed with alternative lessons and activities taking place.

Year 9:

School will be closed for all Year 9 students on Wednesday 5th July but will be open for all Year 9 lessons on Friday 7th July. Where teachers are not in school, lessons will be collapsed with alternative lessons and activities taking place.

Year 10:

School will be closed for all Year 10 students as they will be undertaking work experience this week. Where students are undertaking an arranged work experience placement within the Academy, they should attend as normal.

Year 12:

The Sixth Form area will be open and supervised for those wishing to come in. If they are scheduled to have a lesson at Rushden Academy and their teacher is in, then they should attend their lesson as normal. Students also have the option to complete independent work at home.

Vulnerable Students:

A separate email will be sent out inviting identified vulnerable students from year groups to attend and be supervised at school. They will be supervised to undertake online work in an IT room.

Free School Meals:

For students entitled to a free school meal would you please email by Tuesday 4th July at 3:00pm to inform us whether you will be collecting a cold lunch, from Rushden Academy, on Wednesday 5th or Friday 7th July. A pre-ordered lunch will be available for collection between 12:00pm and 12:30pm on each day. Lunch will be provided for all students in school as normal.

The rationale for selecting these Year Groups is as follows:

Year 7 – These are the most vulnerable in terms of being the youngest.

Years 8 and 9 - These students will have one day each in school to minimise the impact to their education.

Year 10 - will be undertaking work experience this week.

Year 12 - These students are in their A level examination years and it is important that they can still come into school to study.

Yours sincerely

Mr B Baines

Principal

Encompass Donation

Dear Rushden Academy,

I am writing to thank you all at Rushden Academy for the recent donation to Encompass of a selection of white goods and cookers.

As a charity, we work across North Northamptonshire although primarily in Rushden and help those facing poverty, homelessness and addiction.

We support individuals to overcome the immediate challenges of homelessness, addiction, food poverty and isolation; then we empower them to make positive life choices that lead to improved health, housing, employment and active participation in the local community.

We do this through the delivery of several homeless accommodation provisions; an outreach service; three foodbanks; a residential rehab project and dry houses. We are also imminently opening a day centre which will run courses, social groups and facilitate the delivery of other services in order to address challenges faced by clients.

The donation that you have provided, namely 9 cookers; 2 fridges; 1 washing machine; 1 tumble dryer; 3 microwaves and 1 hob, will be a huge help to those facing disadvantage in the local area.

The goods will be used to help equip peoples homes when they move into new accommodation. A lot of our clients live with us temporarily to prevent them rough sleeping, and then we help move them on successfully by addressing barriers to maintaining accommodation. We also rehouse gentlemen who have been through our rehab and equipping their new accommodation for them and their families really helps set them up to succeed.

Thank you again and I look forward to working in partnership with Rushden Academy in the future.

With very best wishes

Jo Burns

CEO

Strike Action Parent Letter

27^th January 2023

Dear Parents and Carers

I wanted to provide an update on the proposed strike action, the first day of which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 1st of February.

I have spent the last few days carrying out a thorough risk assessment which has been challenging given that we won’t know exactly how many teachers will be off until the day itself; they are not required to inform their employer if they intend to strike. With this in mind, I have made the decision to open the school only to specific year groups as this is the only way to ensure that the school can open and operate safely with regards to supervision and adequate ratios of staff to students. The details for the specific year groups are as follows:

Year 12 and 13:

The Sixth Form area will be open and supervised as a warm space for those wishing to come in. For year 13, if they are scheduled to have a lesson at Rushden Academy and their teacher is in, then the lesson will take place as normal. Year 12 and 13 students also have the option to complete independent work at home.

Year 11:

School will be open for all Year 11 lessons. Where teachers are not in school students will be supervised and other examination preparation activities will be put in place by Senior Leaders. The exams scheduled for Year 11 students will be going ahead as normal and will not be impacted by the strike action.

Year 7:

School will be open for all Year 7 lessons. Where teachers are not in school, lessons will be collapsed with alternative lessons and activities taking place. All Year 7s will need to ensure that they bring their PE kit to school on the day as some of the alternative activities may require them to get changed.

Years 8, 9 and 10:

The school will be closed to Years 8, 9 and 10 with no live lessons taking place. Cover work will not be set for teachers who are striking but there will be work available on the google classrooms which they can access and complete on the day.

Vulnerable Students:

A separate email will be sent out inviting identified vulnerable students from year groups 8, 9 and 10 to attend and be supervised at school. They will be supervised to undertake online work in an IT room.

Free School Meals:

For students entitled to free school meals, further correspondence will follow in relation to how you can collect food on the day.

Whilst I recognise that this will cause disruption around your childcare arrangements, I have made these decisions based on ensuring the safety of our students. This reflects the known availability of staff and the potential disruption that may be caused by staff with their own childcare issues. Please be reassured that we will review these arrangements and communicate with you any changes to our plan before the next proposed strike day on March 1^st.

If any plans change, I will communicate further next week, and again when we are able to review our capacity to open for March 1st.

Yours sincerely

Mr Ben Baines

Principal