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EDUCATION workers in coastal town Peacehaven have entered their seventh day of strike action over plans to hand the school to an unaccountable academy trust.
Teachers at the school in East Sussex have completed a week’s worth of strike action this week against plans by East Sussex County Council to make the school an academy.
The workers, who are members of the National Education Union (NEU), are resisting the efforts of the authorities to hand the school over to the Swale Academies Trust.
Since 2015, the number of pupils per teacher across schools in the trust grew by 16 per cent. The national average growth is 3.5 per cent.
In the same period, the number of senior executives earning over £100,000 in schools across the area have tripled.
There is also widespread anger among the workforce about the trust’s plan to “disappear” subjects from the local curriculum, such as arts courses.
A teacher at the school who wished to remain anonymous said: “Dance and textiles courses will not be running next year, and the offer to our students is going to narrow as the chain focus on ticking boxes rather than delivering a broad education.
“Class sizes in core subjects are rising considerably. We are very frustrated that the imposed interim board are still not listening to the very genuine concerns of the staff to the point we are having to take such a large amount of strike action.”
Conservative county councillor Nigel Enever met education officers at the county hall to discuss the situation, while scores of people held a demonstration.
Lewes, Eastbourne and Wealden NEU secretary Phil Clarke said: “We have taken our protest to county hall to show East Sussex County Council that our support is very high among staff and parents and continues to grow.
“How can this organisation be the only option for the children of Peacehaven and be imposed from outside the community?”
The union has said that it has “made clear” to authorities that if East Sussex County Council pause the transfer to allow a governing body to be established, so that the local community can participate in decision-making for the school, then the strike can be suspended.
