23rd January 2023

Dear Colleagues,

Strike Action

As you are aware, industrial action and teacher strikes are due to take place in England and Wales following the announcement by the National Education Union (NEU) on 16th January. Other teaching unions have not voted to strike at this time, but are considering further ballots, so it's important to be prepared for the impact that these and possible further strikes may have on your school. In some schools there may be little or no impact from strike action but in others it may mean that changes are made to the way they operate.

Currently, the strike days that will affect Hillingdon schools are:

• Wednesday 1 February 2023: in England and Wales.
• Thursday 2 March 2023: in the following English regions: London, South East, South West.
• Wednesday 15 March 2023: in England and Wales.
• Thursday 16 March 2023: in England and Wales.

This information aims to provide schools with enough information to make key decisions regarding those days:

• The Department for Education expects the headteacher to take all reasonable steps to keep the school open for as many pupils as possible.
• The decision to open, restrict attendance, or close a maintained school is for the headteacher. The decision for academies rests with the academy trust, but is usually delegated to the principal.
• It is best practice for headteachers to consult governors, parents and the Local Authority, academy trust or diocesan representative (where appropriate) before deciding whether to close. Headteachers are entitled to ask staff whether they intend to strike. If you decide to close your school, we would ask that you inform the council in advance by contacting education@hillingdon.gov.uk.
• Your school may need to adapt how it operates on strike days; lessons might be taught by other members of staff or classes might be brought together. If large numbers of staff strike, schools may need to restrict attendance for some pupils.
• If schools need to restrict attendance, we ask that those schools prioritise vulnerable children, children of critical workers and pupils who are due to take public examinations (like GCSEs) and other formal assessments. A definition of vulnerable children and critical workers can be found at Annex B of guidance for Emergency planning and response for education, childcare and children's social care settings. Schools will decide on prioritisation of pupils depending on staff availability and will communicate this to parents.
• Where schools are not able to provide face-to-face education for all pupils, we encourage them to provide remote education to ensure every child has access to learning.
• For those pupils eligible for free school meals, It is the responsibility of the school to provide free school meals during term time and you should make arrangements to ensure children are not disadvantaged. If attendance is restricted due to strike action and FSM pupils will not be attending, packed lunches, vouchers or an alternative will need to be provided.

There are some useful guidance documents to support your decision making.

The Department for Education has updated its guidance on handling strike action:

Handling strike action in schools - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Key have produced a comprehensive FAQ using information from a range of current guidance:

Industrial action: FAQs | The Key Leaders (thekeysupport.com)

Edapt has provided guidance on who can and can't strike:

Teacher Strikes 2023 - Detailed, independent guidance for education staff - Edapt

If you require further advice and guidance, please contact your commissioned HR provider.

Michael Hawkins, Interim Service Manager - Education Improvement & Partnerships

Education Inclusion Toolkit: Guidance and support for professionals who work with children displaying Persistent Disruptive Behaviour

Please find link to the Education Inclusion Toolkit:  Exclusions Guidance & Support - Leap (hillingdon.gov.uk)

The purpose of the toolkit is to reduce suspensions and exclusions for children that present with persistent disruptive behaviour. It is applicable to children that attend any education setting, including nurseries, primary and secondary schools.

This is an interactive tool that can be used by education professionals working directly with children to identify health, education, and social needs of children. It can also be used to record and reflect on the interventions they have tried with individual children and develop awareness of other response options. Please ensure this toolkit is shared with key staff involved in supporting children and ask them to read it.

Brilliant Parents - Please share with parents /carers

Brilliant Parents Present a 'Lunch and Learn' Webinar on Promoting Emotional Health For Our Children on 27^th January 12.30 - 1 pm. During this Lunch & Learn Webinar we will examine how as a parent - you can have a positive impact in promoting emotional health and wellbeing.

Please register here

Plant-based Cooking in Schools Online Workshop - Wednesday 8th February 3 pm

ProVeg UK invites you to join the second online School Plates Plant-Based Cooking in Schools workshop of 2023. These sessions are aimed at caterers, or anyone else who is interested, from individual schools. We will be demonstrating how to prepare simple, inexpensive, nutritionally balanced, and most importantly, tasty, plant-based recipes that children will love! School Plates is the flagship programme of ProVeg UK delivering menu change in UK schools to improve the health of our children and the planet.

Register here

Workshop will cover:

• An introduction to the School Plates programme
• Why it's important to offer healthy and sustainable menus with planet-friendly meals
• *New for 2023* Cooking demonstration of a brand new School Plates recipes taken from our yet-to-be-released, 2nd edition of The Recipes 
• Cooking demonstrations of our most popular recipes of 2022 including the Sticky Chocolate Brownie (ve)

If you'd like to watch any of the 2022/23 workshops, here are the links:

May 2022 June 2022 July 2022 September 2022 October 2022 November 2022 January 2023