Tower Hamlets School in Bow faces teacher strike after Easter

A school in Bow faces a staff walk out after Easter as unions hold a strike ballot over staff cuts.

Unison, which represents support workers, and the NUT, which represents teachers, at Central Foundation Girls School, are currently balloting their members for strike action after the Easter break. The result of the ballot is expected after the Easter Holiday.

Unison’s Tower Hamlets branch secretary John McLoughlin said: “We’ll agree with the NUT on a date for the strike once we have the result of the ballot.”

It comes after he called on the school’s head teacher Esther Holland to draw a line under savings to the school’s budget.

In January 13 posts, including seven for teachers and six for support staff, faced the axe, as part of �267,000 worth of savings, according to Mr McLoughlin.

Since then, he said, vacant posts have been scrapped and some staff have opted for voluntary redundancy.

But four support workers and two teachers at the secondary school in Harley Grove are still facing redundancy, he said.

Mr McLoughlin said: “We still hope the head teacher will think again. We have notified the school about the ballot and met with Esther Holland. We urged her to wait and see if there will be any further voluntary reductions in staff over the long term before cutting staff. She said they might make savings to the management team but insisted there was no alternative.”

Ms Holland said the strain on resources and the impact of the school’s deficit makes the redundancies “unavoidable”.