Staff at a South London secondary school are striking over proposed redundancies which they claim will put the safety of students at risk. Teachers and support staff at Harris Girls’ Academy East Dulwich in Southwark walked out on July 8 and 9 and are set to carry out further strike action next Wednesday (July 16).
Staff who are striking and are members of the National Education Union (NEU), are calling on the Harris Federation to drop the redundancy plans and instead protect the roles, which they said support the welfare and safety of pupils.
A spokesperson for the Federation told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “In common with almost every other school in London, we are restructuring our team to meet the decline in secondary school rolls across the city and to be able to afford the unfunded National Insurance increases and national pay awards that the NEU campaigned for and the government has introduced.”
According to the NEU, the proposed restructure could see up to seven people lose their jobs, including five members of the safeguarding team while the school’s health and safety team could also be reduced from two staff members to one.
An anonymous staff member told the LDRS: “This will have quite an impact on the students. First in a safeguarding aspect, but also most of the people facing redundancy are the ones kids can go to and have a conversation openly with comfort and without stigma.
“The failure is that they think that redundancies won’t be a problem, but we on the ground know that it’s not right and it will impact the kids.” They added: “It’s hard to comprehend that the trust has money for more senior leaders and the highest paid academy executive in the country while they do this to us.”
Research carried out by the NEU found that in 2023, executive pay at Harris Federation rose by £540,000 (14 per cent), with the multi-academy trust’s CEO, Sir Dan Moynihan, becoming the first education executive in the UK to earn over £500,000 annually. Paddy Emond, Regional Officer at the NEU, said: “No one disputes that schools are under serious funding pressure. But when the highest paid education executive in the country is overseeing cuts to vital safeguarding roles, something is deeply wrong.
“Our members care about their school, their students, and their community. They are being forced to strike because decisions are being made that put pupils at risk while executive salaries continue to rise. This is not about necessity, it is about priorities.”
A spokesperson for the Harrison Federation said: “The academy is fully staffed for September with all teams fully resourced to meet the needs of our students.
“It is disappointing that the NEU is scaremongering but, as ever, they are more concerned about promoting themselves rather than considering what could unnecessarily concern families.”
The Harris Federation is made up of 52 primary and secondary schools located in and around London. It opened its first school in 1990.
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