Due to strike action on the 30th November 2011 we have had to make the decision to close the College for students. This is due to not having enough staff to ensure the health and safety of all students.
Should the strike be called off before Wednesday the College will be open as normal. Please check the website for further updates.
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Dear Parents / Carer,
RE: Wednesday 30th November 2011
We have been informed by the NUT, UNISON, GMB, NAHT and NASUWT that they will all be taking industrial action in the form of a strike on Wednesday 30th November 2011.
This action is not against the College itself but is part of national industrial action organised by these trades unions about changes to the pension schemes of their members.
There is no requirement on unions to inform us of which members of staff will take action, and it may be that they will not know themselves as there is no obligation on members of unions to obey a strike call.
Neither the governing body nor the Principal is legally allowed to close the College ‘in sympathy’ with the strike and we will not do so. However, our main concern is the safety of our students. The College will only close if in the opinion of the Principal it is not safe to remain open. If it does remain open, it is unlikely that lessons will be normal and there may have to be sessions of private study supervised by a member of staff. If action is prolonged, we will endeavour to protect the education of those on examination courses.
We may not know until very late how many staff will be available to work therefore the decision to close may have to be taken at the last minute. Every effort will be made to give notice at the latest by the day before; but in case the decision has to be made on the day itself, we are asking parents to nominate a place of safety, which may be your home, to which you child can go to if we have to close. All up to date information will be placed on the College website and parents / carers will also receive a text message if we have details of your mobile phone number. At this stage however, it is more likely that the College will be closed to students on the 30th November 2011 unless a resolution is reached before this date.
We must all hope that the issue over which the industrial action has arisen is resolved as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
Graham Lund
Chair of IEB
