Staff vote to take industrial action on Thursday

Teachers have voted to strike on Thursday over plans to turn their secondary school into an academy.

Union members at Alperton Community School will form a picket line outside the two buildings in Stanley Avenue and Eailing Road, Alperton, from 8am.

Alperton’s governing body voted last Tuesday to convert the school.

The Times exclusively revealed that National Union of Teachers (NUT) members at four schools in the borough which could become academies took part in a ballot on May 14 over industrial action.

The other schools affected are Preston Manor High School in Carlton Avenue, East Wembley, Queen’s Park Community School in Aylestone Avenue, Queen’s Park, and Wembley High Technology College in East Lane, Wembley.

Preston Manor has now opted for trust status while NUT members at Queen’s Park and Wembley decided against strike action.

Jean Roberts, joint secretary of the Brent Teachers Association, said: “We are proud Alperton teachers are standing up against this decision. The academies programme removes legal safeguards on pay and conditions, privatises the management and could open them up to be run for profit. Their idea is to have a chaotic free-for-all market in state education.”

Teachers and non-teaching staff at Alperton say exams on Thursday will not be disrupted.

In a letter to parents they said: “We work incredibly hard to achieve the best results for students and did not decide to take strike action lightly.

“We strongly urge the governing body to reconsider and undertake a longer consultation with parents and carers.”