Teachers locked out of school in row with trust

At least 25 teachers have been locked out of a secondary school after they voted to take industrial action short of a strike.

Members of teachers union NASUWT at Gable Hall School in Corringham, Essex, have been involved in an ongoing dispute over workload and working practices.

The Ortu Federation is currently running the school with Mossbourne Trust Management, which will formally take over on 31 December. In a letter to the union it confirmed the lockout from Wednesday.

"During this period of industrial action, the participating employees should stay away from work and will not be paid," the letter said.

"Participating staff will not be permitted to enter the premises or perform their duties until they are prepared to comply with their contractual obligations in full."

Speaking anonymously to the BBC, a teacher said staff wanted the trusts to understand any additional duties were not part of their contract but might be undertaken on a voluntary basis.

They said staff had postponed action in November, hoping to reach a compromise.

The teacher said they had not been offered any time off in lieu or additional pay for what they believed were additional duties and were concerned about what they described as "adverse management practices".

The union also disputed its members had broken contractual obligations and said the action they had planned to take before the lockout would have seen them refusing to implement any existing or new policies or working practices which had not been the subject of consultation and agreement with NASUWT.

NASUWT said this included not attending more than one after-school staff meeting per week of a maximum one hour and not in a week which coincides with a parental consultation evening.

They were also refusing to take part in lining up students prior to lesson start, to undertake supervision of pupils during their lunch break, and wanted to exercise staff's right to leave the school site during lunch break.

Members also planned to refuse to undertake cover for absence, unless they are employed on a contract wholly or mainly to provide cover for absence.

NASUWT said it had now raised the matter directly with the secretary of state for education.

The Ortu Federation told the BBC it had asked staff members to "fulfil contractual obligations of 1,265 hours per academic year as set out in the current edition of the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document, which came into force on 3 November 2023)".

It said: "The federation's objectives are for students to learn in a safe environment and make excellent progress."

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