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Jobs have been saved at a primary school after parents, teachers and politicians took part in strike action. National Education Union (NEU) members at Western Road Community Primary School, Lewes, have persuaded their employer to abandon plans to cut more than half the school’s teaching assistants. Nick Childs, the NEU senior regional officer, said he was “pleased” that the school has been able to “avoid compulsory redundancies of permanent teaching assistants”.
Parents, teachers and students protesting against the cuts in Lewes (Image: Supplied) The move comes after members took part in strike action on March 12 , against the proposed cuts, with hundreds of parents, pupils and members of the public joining a demonstration outside the school. The union had initially called for five more days of strikes but withdrew its dispute on March 28. The NEU has 21 members at Western Road School: a majority of all staff at the school.
Following the strike, East Sussex County Council confirmed the school was no longer proposing any compulsory redundancies and had abandoned their proposed restructure of staff. Mr Childs said: “The fact that the threat to jobs happened in an oversubscribed and popular local school illustrates the dire national funding crisis in education. “Members and parents should be proud of the stand they took and the outcome that was obtained.
” Parents, teachers and students protesting against the cuts in Lewes (Image: Supplied) Read more: People line the streets to pay their respects to Britain's oldest drag artist The initial proposal was to reduce the number of permanent teaching assistants from seven to three. The school will now retain all seven permanent teaching assistants. Commenting on the result, the school’s NEU workplace reps Margie Krijnauw and Bronwen Ferber said: “Following the strike action, we are pleased that we have been able to avoid compulsory staff redundancies.
“The teachers and support staff stood together to rally against the proposed cuts, and we would like to thank the parents and the wider community for their tremendous support.” The school will not retain or renew the contracts of four temporary members of support staff, which includes three individual needs assistants (INAs) and a teaching assistant. “This leaves us with concerns regarding workload but we are continuing to actively negotiate ways to manage this to ensure we continue to deliver the highest quality education that our children deserve," said Ms Krijnauw and Ferber.
LibDem MP James MacCleary for Lewes was in attendance at the protests (Image: Supplied) James MacCleary, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, also attended the protests in March. At the time he said that as a father he knows the importance of a "well-resourced" school. He added: “Slashing staff numbers at a thriving and oversubscribed school is short-sighted and damaging.
"Pushing problems down the chain to secondary schools by reducing early-years support will cost more in the long run and harm children’s future success. "Schools should be nurturing children at the start of their education journey, not stripping away the very resources that help them thrive. "This approach won’t save money — it will simply create bigger challenges and higher costs later on.
"As a dad, I know how important a well-resourced school is to my children, and every child deserves that same support and opportunity.".
