THOUSANDS of pupils at schools across York are being asked to stay away from class as teachers prepare to take strike action.
Head teachers throughout the city have been trying to make provision for when the first of a number of strikes go ahead on Wednesday (February 1).
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The National Education Union (NEU) has also announced national and regional industrial action in England following a ballot of its teacher members across three further days in York, on Tuesday, February 28, Wednesday, March 15 and Thursday, March 16.
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Union leaders say the strike is partly about a decade long fall in real-term wages and discussions between unions and the Education Minister Jeremy Miles have so far failed to resolve the dispute.
At the same time, the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) is beginning industrial action short of a strike, which includes only doing some tasks in core hours and refusing to cover striking staff.
So far in York some schools like Huntington Primary Academy, have chosen to close altogether, while others have opted for a hybrid approach, with some year groups in school and others working remotely from home for the day.
Andrew Daly, who is CEO of Pathfinder Multi Academy Trust in York and executive head at Archbishop Holgate's CE in Badger Hill, said his school is only open to Year 11 pupils and those classed as 'vulnerable' that day.
He said: "Unfortunately on Wednesday (February 1), the school will only be open for vulnerable and EHCP students, and for those students in Year 11. Year 12 and 13 students will be at home accessing live lessons via Google Classroom. Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students will be at home and will have work to complete on Google Classroom."
At Huntington primary Jenny Holton said in a letter to parents: "A number of our teachers belong to the NEU teaching union, and unfortunately, it is difficult to ascertain how many teachers will be absent on the day so we need to build this into our risk assessment.
"With this in mind, we have made the decision to close the school to all classes on Wednesday (February 1).
"We will be contacting a few of our families to offer a place to our children who are vulnerable e.g. has an educational health care plan.
"These pupils will be supervised by some of our teaching assistants and teachers who are not striking.
"We will contact parents and carers regarding the arrangements for the other strike days nearer the time.
"We will be providing some home learning activities for the children to complete, should you wish to do so. This will be set through Google Classroom.
"We understand the impact that this may have on children and working families, and equally, are respectful of our colleagues' rights to take legal industrial action if they wish."
Meanwhile at Fulford School pupils in Years 8, 9 and 10 will also do their lessons remotely on Teams from home, while school will remain open for Years 7, 11, 12 and 13, says head Steve Lewis in an email to parents.
And at Knavesmire School in South Bank the school is only closing on Wednesday to Early Years classes - reception and nursery, with the remainder of the school being open, but providing child care rather than a normal lessons timetable.
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