Concerns remain but National Education Union hopes for turning point in Deepings School teachers dispute

A union representing striking teachers hopes that a ‘turning point’ has been reached in the dispute.

A quarter of staff at the Deepings School joined the picket line for two days earlier this month, calling for more consultation on policy changes affecting staff and pupils.

Representatives of the National Education Union (NEU) and The Teachers’ Union (NASUWT) met with school management on Wednesday (October 9).

As well as poor communication, they say the trust has provided inadequate staff training and support, and created an unmanageable workload.

Gareth Jones, NEU regional officer, described last week’s discussions as ‘constructive’.

“Whilst there are still issues which our members remain concerned about, we hope that we have reached a turning point towards more positive relations,” he said.

A spokesperson for Anthem Schools Trust, which runs the school, also used the word constructive to describe dialogue between the two sides and said they were ‘pleased’ to hold regular meetings with the union.

“We are actively listening to staff through a variety of forums to address questions and concerns around any new ways of working, related to adjustments to our teaching framework and our behaviour policy,” they said.

“We remain wholly committed to finding a resolution that supports both staff and the leadership team, while maintaining our focus on raising educational standards for our students.”

Deepings School headteacher Kirstie Johnson also wrote to parents to thank them for their ‘understanding and support’ during the industrial action and explain why it was happening.

She said that the disputed changes to teaching framework and behaviour policy were based on models used ‘in some of the top schools in the country’ and aimed to improve the quality of teaching as well as ‘teachers’ professional development’.

Mrs Johnson also pledged to share developments, including an external review which ‘highlighted many positive improvements already underway’ in the curriculum and pupils’ behaviour.

However, LincsOnline was contacted by a parent who thought the message ‘missed the point’ of staff concerns.

The Anthem Trust took over the running of Deepings in 2012, and since 2017 the school has been rated as ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted.