is anyone's primary not closed on 24th for strike

[stonedout]

Our school is notoriously bad at communication and we have no idea if school is going to be closed next thurs. Bit late to let us know I feel and kids are off til monday so won't find out til then. Really bad if you have to arrange childcare. A few ppl i have talked to know nothing about any strike

Teachers aren't having a pay cut, its just that their payrise is small.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7188649.stm

ie. roughly 2.45%

Its not much more than inflation but teachers don't really have an excuse to strike.

However lots of public workers are getting a smaller pay rise than teachers.
The LSAs are getting 2% over three years.

www.unison.org.uk/paymatters/localgov.asp

The average teacher's salary is 28K. Admitally teachers start off on about 19K, but teachers' pay is not that bad. Nurses who also have degrees and often masters get paid far less.

We are all being hit by high fuel and food bills. Its not just teachers.

Many support staff typically get about 12K if they do 37 hours a week and work doing the holidays. In practice most support staff get far less as they work term only and get paid pro rata. Many support jobs in schools are surprisingly skilled. Schools are employing all kinds of people behind the scenes.

Current rate of inflation according to Bank of England is 2.5%.

Where does the figure of 4.1% below come from?

Conditions for support staff is a separate argument. If your profession is that badly done by, you need to get your union to act.

we haven't had anything to say the school is shut either

We got letter on last day before spring break to say school would be shut on the day of the strike. It was from the head and said she regretted having to shut the school but felt she had no other option and wanted to give parents the maximum possible time to arrange childcare. I know of other schools in this area that haven't let parents know yet though - schools go back on Monday here which will be very short notice.

Ds's headmistress told me she doesn't expect anyone to strike. Dh asked the teachers in the foundation unit - they didn't have a clue what he was on about - he had to explain what the NUT was. I know they are all very young but am still astonished. Helpful that they aren't striking, but blimey, I'm worried about their grasp of current affairs...

we ha d a letter today, which said that the teachers in the NUT are not striking and school is open as normal... yipeeeeee

Oddly enough, some classes at our school are open as usual and some are striking. I guess it depends on what union the individual teacher belongs to.

I am not NUT so will not be striking but do not my colleagues have not yet announced if they are striking.

I must say I do not agree with the strike. I think with the way the economy is going at mo, everyone has to put up with small payrise. I am a nurse and we are only getting offered 8% over 3 years. Saying that I would never strike as patients would be too much affected.

I totally agree with the posters that support staff are dreadfully paid for what they do.

I presume ours is not as they have Parents evening planned for after school that day.

ReallyTired I'm not striking and don't agree with striking over pay but the pay rise offered to teacher's is below even the governments published rate of inflation with city experts claiming that inflation is double the governments figure.
According to official Government statistics, teachers are working well over 50 hours a week ? at least 220 hours a month. Starting salaries are also well below average graduate earnings.
A newly qualified teacher after 4 years in university earns £ 7.62 per hour rising to £11.14 after 6 years ~ less than an experienced nurse!

Teachers don't get paid by the hour, they get a salary. I don't know where you get the statistic that NQT gets paid £7.62 per hour. My little job doing IT support pays about that.

Although teachers often work 50 to 60 hours a week, they do not do that level of work 48 weeks of the year. Most graduates will do about 40 hours a week for 48 hours a week where as a teacher will do about 50 to 60 hours a week during term time. Over a year a teacher probably works the same number of hours as most people, its just more intense.

Its hard to compare the salaries of nurses and teachers. A nurse with six years experience might get to F grade, but a lot of nurses will be on E grade. Also nurses have to do very anti social shift work. There are very high scales, for consultant nurses, but then its only fair to compare such people to teachers in senior management.

www.geniushealth.com/info/nhs-pay/nursing-pay-rates.html

This the teachers payscale.

www.tda.gov.uk/Recruit/lifeasateacher/payandbenefits.aspx

Is the pay really that bad? It has to be remembered that nurses have degress and many of them study for at least four years.

I agree teachers are salaried but the figures have been calculated against the salary of a newly qualified teacher working the hours recognised by the government over the 39 weeks schools are actually open for students. Teachers do actually work during the weeks when schools are closed to students and over weekends but most people don't realise this.

Eight out of fourteen teachers are striking at my dc's school. The school is closed for children in those classes, so Dd2 is off, but Dd1 and Ds are in (you should have heard the row that caused lol).

www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/Default.aspx?Id=766
nurses pay from Nov 2007

Dh and I are both teachers and we both feel pretty well-paid (in Inner and Outer London).

TBH I would be striking over planning/prep time or the ridiculous results-driven system that neglects our children and doesn't allow them to enjoy learning properly... but that's me! (and why we are both in the NASUWT)

Still believe in all workers rights to strike though, of course.

Our school is not striking, mainly as we have headteacher interviews the next day and it would be too disruptive...

I have no idea if DD's school is striking.
I assume the governers will know?

If you are on holiday the Head probably doesn't know whether it will have to close because the teachers are not there to say what they are doing.The end of Monday is probably the earliest you can expect to know.

I may be wrong but the whole idea of a strike is to be disruptive or there really isn't any point.

we had a letter explaining that the staff would be reluctantly going on strike after much soul searching. But the school would be open with one teacher (may not in the union ?) taking one class, the head another, and a semi retired teacher who comes in to cover illness sometimes would be taking the bottom 2 classes with the aid of teaching assistants.

I did wonder if the teaching assistants had a union.

Some teaching assistants belong to Unison. However the problem for many teaching assistants is that their pay is so low the fees of belong to a union is quite a wack out of their pay packet.

A bigger issue is that many teaching assistants are on contracts. This is partly because they support particular children. When those children stop needing additonal help or they leave the job the LSAs lose their job. The temporary nature of LSA jobs mean that LSAs can be got rid of very easily without any reason.

If an LSA went on strike their contract would not be renewed. The competition for term time jobs is immense.

According to this thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/43/508686 teaching assistants UNISON are on strike the day before the NUT strike.

dd1's school is open ,they printed it on the school newsletter last week.