The teacher strike is on the same day as DS's transistion day to year 7

[cottonwoolbrain]

He's already unhappy about the school he's been allocated but we've been selling it to him that he'll be much happier and everything will feel more real once he's been and spent the day there... he's the only one from his primary going so it was so it is more important to him than some others.

We've just about got him looking forward to it.. and now this. Wondering if there will be a transition day at all now.. I'm hoping it will be moved rather than cancelled. He's not even been inside the school only ever seen it from outside. He does not know a single person there.

We will wait to see what the school say before I tell him anything. Apparantly that week is transition day for loads of schools across the country... I'd like to think there was nothing deliberate about upsetting so many year 6s... but I feel as if there may be

I hadn’t thought about transition day and trips. Transition day here on 5th July and various trips on the 7th. DD is in year 12 and not directly affected but isn’t impressed (and that’s before she hears about transition day and trips).

The issue is the government don't care, children have had their education fucked up the past few years, they're paying a huge price and will continue to do so whilst the government doesn't address the issues with retention. I support teachers, I find the current situation of schools- budgets, targets, lack of staff scary, but I don't think it's unreasonable for children and by extension to feel upset by this targeted set of dates. The government don't care whether its transition day or whether its 'business as usual' as it were, and it's not like parents are going to protest much. Poor children.

@UsingChangeofName - our open day fell on the same day as the year 6 residential for our school. No chance of looking round. For us though, we've 2dc already at the school so open day and transition is for our children, not us as parents.

It's our dcs secondary transition too. I know that days will have been chosen for maximum disruption and while I'm frustrated for my sen dd, having worked in a school staff need to make the biggest impact to have even the smallest chance of being heard. Unfortunately they'll be painted as the bad guys.

@TeenDivided I think most areas have transition day on the 5th, which is why it has been targeted as a strike day.

I hadn't even twigged that the 5th is also a strike day.

My DD is now in college and breaks up end June.

They have to target something or there is no point, there are no exams to target now.

Strikes are supposed to be disruptive 🙄.

The government weren't even bothered about nurses from ITU striking, do you think they're bothered about this?

It's not like it's exams that are being disrupted or school work this near the end of term.

This.

Absolutely. The problem is after lockdown, this is another minor inconvenience and they don't give a shit. In comparison to the very recent lockdown, this is a small inconvenience not disruptive in the eyes of many, including gov.

The only way things will get better is if teachers vote with their feet. When schools can't open because they haven't the staff left, then that is when there will be change.

They really don't. I've been in education 10 years and have never heard of it referred to at all. Around here different secondary schools don't even have the same date, so you have Y6s going on different days. I've worked in 3 different English counties and none has had an official 'transfer day' (never even heard it called anything other than transition).

The 'teachers will lose support' is typical of exactly how teachers are treated. Patents say they support the strike until suddenly it doesn't suit. You know what else isn't good for your child's education? Schools that are haemorraghing teachers, trying to meet the needs of SEND pupils who can't get a special school place but desparately need one, that can't recruit TAs or midday supervisors for love nor money and don't have the funding for rubbers by this stage in the year, let alone the resources needed for a primary science lesson or whatever. Schools would fall apart without the goodwill of teachers. They're beginning to say enough is enough.

The summer term is a nightmare. Every date would have clashed with something: trips, residentials, writing moderation. OP it wouldn't even occur to me your son's transition wouldn't be rescheduled; I'm sure it will. I hope he loves his new school.

I think if the logic behind ‘strikes are supposed to be disruptive’ is that parents will be annoyed with the government and lobby for change - I don’t think that they will.

If trips are disrupted surely they will have to refund the parents because strikes won't be included in any insurance.

Could you speak to the secondary school’s inclusivirity officer. I was worried about one of our kids going to secondary school and their primary school arranged an enhanced transition. They went in one lunchtime a week after summer half term. Had lunch and joined a lunchtime with other children also on the enhanced transition. It was amazing for their confidence starting. I stayed the first week as it was a tour of the school and then they went in in their own.

The thing around rescheduling seems challenging (to me, anyway - not a teacher, but recent industrial action in my sector too) - because you're not supposed to just rearrange work to minimise impact. Work which was supposed to happen on strike days is the work which just shouldn't happen. In practice, many in the public sector will (because of a sense of obligation to the public), but it's not the spirit of the strike for those who are striking or their colleagues who are not. I sympathise with teachers who may face a particularly difficult decision on these dates.

My Y6 child is on a week-long residential with school that week so I'm not sure how that will work. 🤔

Yep. The question for me is where the disruption is targeted.

our Children, the perpetual after thought of all the people in charge. Be they government or unions.

No wonder so many kids are disenfranchised from Learning.

They deliberately didn’t target exam days. No strikes were held or an announced during the exam period.

And you don't think the careless ways schools are being underfunded, teachers overworked to the bone and the current teacher recruitment crisis is targeting children specifically?

They’ve had to deal with a lot lately poor things, with pandemic and strikes

Children are disenfranchised from learning due to a huge range of reasons. Namely massive underfunding of their education and the recruitment crisis. Not the strikes. Schools are in such a sorry state, some kids are probably learning more at home with their parents on strike days than when they're at school.

I would have thought if there are trips scheduled the teachers involved will just do them… In my experience , as much as some colleagues complain about non-strikers, a booked trip was one of the things where everyone said “ah, ok, fair enough”. (No longer teaching in the UK though, so things have probably changed).

On our union what's app, it said teachers on residential were exempt from the strike.

On our union what's app, it said teachers on residential were exempt from the strike.