More schools shut for strikes over Catholic academy plans

More schools across the North West have been affected by strike action over plans to take them into academy trusts.

Two Catholic schools, in Preston and in Fleetwood, were set to be closed on Monday and Tuesday, following on from similar strike action in Merseyside earlier this month.

The National Education Union (NEU) has claimed plans for every Catholic school in the Diocese Of Lancaster to become an academy will drain vital funds away from the classroom and see teacher numbers cut.

The Diocese of Lancaster said the plans would guarantee "high quality Catholic education" across the area.

Staff at St Anthony of Padua Catholic Primary School in Liverpool took action earlier this month over plans to move it into the St Joseph Catholic Multi-Academy Trust, and will walk out again on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The Catholic Archdiocese wants about 230 schools to move into three academy trusts.

Announcing the plans in April, it said "the education model will reflect the emerging structures of parish life, after families of parishes were introduced across the archdiocese and are now flourishing".

When a school becomes an academy, it leaves the control of the local education authority for that area and joins a trust or sponsor.

Academies have more flexibility than schools operating under a council umbrella – including an option to deviate from the national curriculum in some areas and to set their own admission arrangements and term times.

Ian Watkinson, secretary of Lancashire NEU, said: "Nobody takes strike action in a school lightly.

"Our members care passionately about their pupils, their schools and the Catholic communities they serve."

"These are successful schools, so there is a very simple question for the Bishop and the Diocese: what educational problem is forced academisation supposed to solve?"

"Taking money and decision-making away from successful local schools requires a compelling educational justification.

"Our members have yet to hear one. There is still time for the Bishop and the Diocese to listen and engage in genuine dialogue."

However, the NEU has previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service academies have to sacrifice some of the funding they previously received as maintained schools, because the not-for-profit multi-academy trusts (MATs) "top slice" academy budgets to fund the central services that would previously have been provided by the local authority.

Pupils at Corpus Christi in Fulwood, and at Cardinal Allen in Fleetwood, will not be able to return to the classroom until Wednesday.

Strikes were also held at Cardinal Allen in July.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Lancaster said: "It is of regret to the Diocese that the members of two teaching unions have decided to take strike action.

"Our sympathy lies first and foremost with pupils who will lose two days of education and for parents who will be inconvenienced by this action, which we consider to be unnecessary.

"It is our belief that academy trusts will guarantee high-quality Catholic education throughout the Diocese. We know this to be true from experience because the majority of our schools in this area have already joined their trust family and are flourishing.

"We are conscious that some unions are opposed to the creation of academies in principle, whether forced or voluntary. Nevertheless, the conversion of schools into academies is both the policy of the government and that of the Diocese of Lancaster."

He added: "We sincerely hope that staff will reconsider their position."

Union leaders have expressed concerns that schools that join the academy trusts could have to hand over part of their budgets to the trusts.

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