NATIONAL education union (NEU) members at Courthouse Green Primary are set to strike after allegations of ‘a culture of fear’ at the school with staff feeling they were ‘targeted, victimised and forced from their jobs.’
The staff have taken their decision after claiming to be subjected to ‘bullying and unreasonable management behaviour’- something the school refutes.
School union members will be walking out tomorrow (July 20) along with further days on July 24 and 25.
The action will continue after the summer break, with strikes planned on September 6, 7, 11 and 12.
Other allegations in dispute include misuse of policies by the school as well as a lack of consultation.
The NEU said there have been some concessions around future policy negotiations with the school but said the ‘unreasonable and bullying behaviours’ of senior management in the Triumph Multi Academy Trust, of which Courthouse Green is a part, persisted.
Chris Denson from Coventry NEU said: “Workload expectations are excessively high and significantly exceed the national maximum, a fact confirmed by the employer.
“Having met with teachers and support staff in Courthouse Green we were shocked at the levels of and severity of the bullying behaviours that our members were subjected to.
“Members reported routinely being denied release for medical appointments, even in such severe cases as cancer scans, release for antenatal scans even where health issues existed.
“We were, and continue to be worried for the health and safety of our members in such an environment.”
Triumph Trust’s executive headteacher Sarah Malam said: “We dispute the accusations of bullying made by the trade union NEU and regret their decision to take strike action that, ultimately, will harm the children, parents, and the wider school community.
“The school has proposed a resolution to other issues that have been raised.
“Our recent Ofsted inspection praised the impact of leaders and managers and stated that we offer our children an exceptional education.
“Our staff work incredibly hard to support our children and their families and we know that we have high expectations of them because what we do here is important.
“We care very much about the staff team here and we are delighted that our staff retention is so high- this year only three staff are leaving our school.
“We are saddened by the issues raised by the NEU and have worked hard with their representatives to resolve them.
“We provided the NEU members with what we felt was a reasonable offer and are happy to meet with them to discuss this further, should they choose to do so.”
