St Anthony of Padua Catholic Primary School in Mossley Hill will close for six days as staff walk out on strike over plans to make it join a large academy trust as part of sweeping reforms led by the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
In May, the ECHO exclusively revealed that hundreds of schools across the Liverpool City Region were set to be transformed into academies, with the Archdiocese planning to take full control of nearly 230 primary and secondary schools and several colleges.
The Archdiocese of Liverpool is the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church covering large swathes of Merseyside, parts of Lancashire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and the Isle of Man. It serves as the Metropolitan See for the North of England, with its seat at Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral.
What the reforms mean for schools
Currently, while the Archdiocese owns the buildings and land associated with many schools, they are operated through what is known as a Voluntary Aided system, where the schools are under the control of local authorities. Under these sweeping reforms, all 230 schools in its network will become academies under the Archdiocese and its three trusts and independent of local authority control.
Two of those trusts - the Pope Francis Multi Academy Trust and St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust - already exist, but will be massively expanding as dozens of schools come under their leadership. A third new trust, named Our Lady of Lourdes North West Trust, will be formed over the next year before more schools become part of it.
Speaking exclusively to the ECHO in May, the Archbishop of Liverpool, The Most Reverent John Sherrington said the move is being made "for the good of all children, who are at the centre of our educational work and mission."
Strike action at St Anthony's
The proposed move will take place over a number of years, with different schools becoming academies in different waves - but not everyone is happy with it.
Staff and parents at St Anthony of Padua Catholic Primary School, based in Sands Road in Mossley Hill, have raised concerns about the fact that their school is set to join one of these large trusts - the St Joseph's Catholic Multi-Academy Trust - in the first wave of the programme.
Those concerns have led to six days of strike action being called by the National Education Union, just weeks into the new academic year.
A letter issued to parents and carers of pupils by the school's new headteacher, Holly Edwards, last week, confirmed the strike action. Teachers will walk out on six days in total, with the school closing on each of those days.
The first walk out will take place tomorrow (Friday), followed by further days of strikes - and therefore full school closures - on Tuesday September 15, Wednesday September 16, Wednesday September 23, Thursday September 24 and Friday September 25.
In her letter to parents, Ms Edwards wrote: "As some of you may be aware, school have had ongoing communications from a trade union regarding a small number of issues that have been raised.
"The governing body and Archdiocese are attempting to work with the union in order to bring about a resolution. However, sadly we have now received notification that the union intends to move forward to strike action."
She added: "While this is deeply disappointing and something we will continue to try and avoid, we respect that staff have the right to take this action."
The headteacher explained that with supply staff not allowed to cover striking teachers, the school's "only real option" is to close on the strike days.
Parents back teachers
One parent of a child at the school, who asked not to be named, said she and others supported the teachers - despite the disruption the walk-outs will bring - because they do not believe a strong case has been made for the school to join the large academy trust.
The mother told the ECHO: "Most of the schools that have joined this trust have been struggling schools. We don't really understand the benefits of joining, there is no evidence we have seen of these benefits.
"We are in wave one of this process so it is all happening very quickly and we are basically being told this is happening."
Speaking about the imminent strike action and school closures, the mum added: "The teachers are so unhappy, we are coming back from the summer to six days of strikes, that's obviously a lot of disruption and we will have to find alternative childcare arrangements.
"We totally understand why the teachers are doing this, we get it, we are being forced to join something we don't want to join. We chose this school because it is a little school, we don't want it to be part of a trust - we feel like we are the guinea pigs."
Asked for her message to the Archdiocese, the mum added: "Our message is for them to pause this move and to reflect. They haven't answered enough questions and we don't feel confident that they are acting in the best interests of our children."
Responding, Nikki Spragg, Chair of Governors at the school told the ECHO: "St Anthony's of Padua Catholic Primary School has a long and proud history. It is, therefore, understandable that discussions around such a significant change have caused discussion and debate.
"To support this, the school has already extended our consultation period and had what we felt was a really positive meeting with our staff and their union representatives. In addition, we also welcomed our parents to a quite lengthy meeting on Monday.
"It is fair to say that at this meeting there were lots of different views shared, and we were heartened that a significant portion of those in attendance could see the benefits of our school moving in the direction that it is. We also hope that it was an opportunity to address some concerns and misunderstandings that there are.
"One of the key points that we raised is that academisation is not just about us protecting what is already good about our school. It is also about helping us to prepare for a future where schools are being asked to do more when funding is tight and there is a declining birth rate.
"We will continue to try and work positively and productively with the teaching union as we move forward. We are listening and, where possible, we will look to find resolutions."
