100 signatures reached
To: School staff, parents and local residents
Hamilton Primary School restructuring proposal
We call on the school Governors to rescind the current school restructuring plan because we believe it is ill conceived and will be detrimental for the school, its children and staff.
Why is this important?
Hamilton Primary school restructuring:
Reject these unfair and damaging proposals.
Tomorrow (Tuesday 22 February) the school's governors will meet to make a final decision on their restructuring document which was delivered to staff on the 25th January.
The essence of the proposals are in effect jobs loses, changes in staff terms and conditions and pay cuts.
It will mean that the school will lose two important part-time teaching posts and face the real possibility that Higher Level Teaching Assistant (unqualified teachers) will be required to deliver regular time-tabled lessons planned by class teachers to whole classes without any preparation time whatsoever.
Most disgracefully the school's highly dedicated and motivated Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) will be forced to reapply for a limited number of jobs, most taking a significant cut in hours.
Further savings are being sought by withdrawing pay for LSAs' 15 minute morning "break" (invariably spent supporting distressed or confused children, preparing for the next lesson, or on playground duty).
These women are currently earning approximately £8.50 per hour!
In addition to removing LSA cover for all class teachers in key stages
1 and 2 in the afternoons, (for example, leaving a single adult in charge of 30 5, 6 or 7 year olds all afternoon), further proposed job cuts include reducing the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator's post to one day a week (even though there is an acknowledged increase in the need for SENCO intervention at the school), and slashing the Computer Technicians post by more than a third (despite the heads decision to invest heavily in new computer technology in the classrooms).
We urge the Governors to reject these proposals for what they are: an unfair and damaging attempt to push through cuts in the schools budget at the expense of our children's educational needs and pay cuts and worsening of terms and conditions for some of our school's lowest paid staff.
Please sign the petition calling on the Governors to reject these proposals.
If the Governors give the proposals the go-ahead we need to urgently act to defend our staff and our children's education.
- The school's staff unions should call a joint meeting to develop a strategy of oppose and stop any
attempts to implement the proposals.
- We should call a joint staff and parents public meeting to organise a protest at the school gate demanding that the proposals be withdrawn.
Up and down the country similar attacks are taking place - attacks that unfairly attempt to balance a budget at the expense of children's education needs and staff pay and conditions - but they are being resisted by both staff and parents.
In Durham teaching assistants have struck to fight off a 40% cut in pay and in Derby TA's recently descended on Derby Councils head office blowing whistles, ringing bells and waving flags and placards to overturn a proposed pay cut.
