Teachers at Chestnut Grove school in Wandsworth, south London, are set to strike on Wednesday of next week against plans to transform the school into an academy.
“Chestnut Grove is an outstanding school,” one NUT union member told Socialist Worker. “It’s a good, popular community school—so why do we need to change it?
“We were one of the schools that lost funding when Tory education secretary Michael Gove scrapped the Building Schools for the Future programme. Our head says we need the extra money.
“But the amount we’re told we would get changes too often. We keep being told to take a ‘leap of faith’—but teachers worry about what will happen to their terms and conditions if the school became an academy.
“The governors promise nothing will change but the new trustees wouldn’t be bound by anything that the current governing body says. This is Chestnut Grove—not Chestnut Gove!”
Teachers will be picketing outside the school on Wednesday morning from 7am—and other trade unionists should take their banners along to show support.
Rush messages of support to [email protected]
Unions have called a general strike
Interview with a member of French revolutionary socialist group Autonomie de Classe
