INDUSTRIAL action continues at a troubled Barnsley Primary school where teachers took part in a second round of walkouts this week.
Members of the National Education Union went on a two-day strike on Tuesday and Wednesday over alleged unreasonable management practices at St Helen’s Primary at Monk Bretton, which is an academy run by Academies Enterprise Trust (AET).
A spokesman told the Chronicle yesterday that more strike dates would be issued ‘if necessary’ as negotiations continue.
The union has written to parents to counter AET’s claim it has taken ‘effective action’ to address concerns about management practices. “This is simply not true and as far as we are concerned we remain in negotiations to resolve the issues.”
A spokesperson for AET said: "We met with union representatives in March in an attempt to resolve their concerns. In our view, the Trust has taken effective action to address each of the points raised.
"We are therefore extremely disappointed that the NEU have chosen to continue to take this industrial action and unfortunately we had no choice but to close the school.
"We continue to engage with the NEU and look forward to hearing the reasons why such action took place given the concerns they raised have been addressed."
The school re-opened as normal yesterday (Thursday).
