Teachers at private Horsham school take strike action over contract changes

Members of the teachers union the NASUWT at Farlington School say there have been threats to sack staff ‘unless they sign contracts that will leave them with deteriorating working conditions.’

They say the changes would include having sick pay limited to one month’s salary.

The union says the strikes are part of eight days of action throughout May.

Sade Afolabi, NASUWT national executive member for West Sussex, said that taking strike action was “the last thing that teachers will want to do but they have been forced into this by these cruel changes.

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"Our members just want to remain on the contracts they are currently employed on. Trying to make sick staff poorer by cutting their salaries is disgraceful and is not something this school should be associated with.”

But Farlington headteacher James Passam said the school had consulted fully with staff to introduce “new contractual arrangements that will reflect new working patterns and improved pay for staff.

"This process ensures that the school will retain and continue to recruit the best teaching staff, while still offering the rich co-curricular provision and pastoral care for which Farlington is so well-known.“Despite a thorough consultation process, one teaching union (the NASUWT) has instructed its members to strike and has also included misleading statements online.“This by no means reflects the good faith in which negotiations have been conducted.”He said arrangements had been made to ensure the smooth running of the school did not “impact important point in the year for its pupils.”