Teachers to strike for six days at Cardinal Allen Catholic High School in Fleetwood as academy row escalates

Staff at a school in Fleetwood are set to strike for six days before the end of the year over plans by the Catholic Church to turn it into an academy, The Gazette can reveal.

Members of the National Education Union (NEU) at Cardinal Allen Catholic High School have already walked out three times as part of an ongoing dispute - once in July and on two consecutive days in September.

In an escalation of their action, teaching and non-teaching staff at the Melbourne Avenue establishment are now planning to down tools on 24th November, 1st-2nd December and 8th-10th December.

During the September stoppages, staff belonging to the NASUWT union also took to the picket line, forcing Cardinal Allen to close. The NASUWT has not yet said whether it will be mirroring the NEU’s forthcoming walkouts.

The school had been able to accommodate year 7 pupils amid the one-day strike in July. As the school’s governing body was notified of the latest scheduled action only on Friday afternoon, it is not yet known whether it will fully or partially shut its gates this time around.

The Gazette understands the Diocese of Lancaster, which is responsible for most of Lancashire’s Catholic schools, has agreed to an NEU request for a meeting ahead of the next set of strikes to discuss the issue at the heart of the dispute and see if the action. - also involving three Preston schools - can be avoided.

The Bishop of Lancaster, the Right Reverend Paul Swarbrick, wants all of his Diocese's schools to join a church-run multi-academy trust (MAT) - meaning they would no longer fall under the umbrella of Lancashire County Council or Blackpool Council.

The majority have already made the switch - but the unions are opposed to the remaining schools being compelled to follow suit.

They have also expressed concern about the financial implications of the change for individual schools, on the basis that academies within MATs have their budgets top-sliced to contribute towards the cost of central support services that would previously have been provided by the relevant council. An NEU representatives at Cardinal Allen has previously said the arrangement would cost it teaching staff.

Speaking to The Gazette about the next, expanded wave of strikes, Lancashire NEU branch secretary Ian Watkinson said adopting academy status should be “a matter of choice” for the schools concerned.

He added: “The Bishop and Diocese now have an opportunity to listen, engage meaningfully with the unions and respect the wishes of school communities. They should take it before further industrial action becomes necessary.”

The Gazette approached the Diocese for comment on the planned strikes – and on a letter sent to the Bishop from the NEU last week, calling for school autonomy over whether or not to academise – but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Bishop Swarbrick has previously said he is pursuing blanket academy conversion “to protect, secure and develop the Church’s mission in education through greater collaboration and support between our school communities and parishes”.

Academies have more flexibility than schools operating under local authority control – including an option to deviate from the national curriculum in some areas and to set their own admission arrangements and term times.

The NEU’s letter to Bishop Swarbrick, seen by The Gazette, warned that the Diocese was creating “an entirely avoidable dispute”.

In addition to the now agreed-to meeting, the correspondence requested “a clear commitment” that no Catholic school within the Diocese would be forced to “academise against the wishes of its school community - and that schools wishing to retain their existing status will be permitted to do so”.

It also highlighted “the longstanding commitment of Catholic social teaching to the dignity of work, solidarity, social dialogue and the legitimate role of trade unions”.

In a statement issued at the time of the September walkouts, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Lancaster expressed “sympathy” with pupils and families affected by the strikes, adding:

“It is our belief that academy trusts will guarantee high-quality Catholic education throughout the Diocese. We know this to be true from experience, because the majority of our schools in this area have already joined their Trust family and are flourishing.

“We are conscious that some unions are opposed to the creation of academies in principle, whether forced or voluntary. Nevertheless, the conversion of schools into academies is both the policy of the government and that of the Diocese of Lancaster.

“We sincerely hope that staff will reconsider their position.”

The Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool is also aiming to academise all of the schools in its patch, which includes South Ribble and Chorley. The policy has met with similar union resistance to that encountered in the Lancaster Diocese, as well as growing political opposition.