CLOSE to 100 teachers and support staff are set to go on strike at a top York school.

Staff at All Saints RC School in South Bank who are National Education Union (NEU) union members will go out on strike starting on Tuesday and Wednesday next week (October 8 and 9) over what it claims are numerous major disagreements between the school and the Middlesbrough academy chain to which it now belongs - Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust (NPCAT).

Michael Kearney, NEU secretary for city of York, said that chief among the issues which have caused the rift are what he describes as 'significant changes to academy leadership'.

These include an independent investigation into the behaviour of the CEO, Hugh Hegarty including actions at All Saints during a recent Ofsted inspection, and the appointment of a temporary executive head, Michael Burns, who has since left the post.

In a letter to parents Mr Hegarty said further strikes are planned for October 14-16 and 22-25.

Mr Kearney said there is now a call to remove the executive head teacher post altogether and the funding for the role to be given to the school for more support staff.

Ofsted graded the school as 'outstanding' last year ahead of it becoming an academy, but the school has subsequently had inspectors in again this year pending the outcome of a report.

A spokesman for NPCAT said they are 'disappointed' that a strike is to take place and urged people to await the results of the Ofsted and said an independent report was conducted into executive pay.

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Mr Kearney said: "All Saints, now controlled by NPCAT,  has been a successful school serving the York community for many decades and staff at the school want this to continue.

"York NEU doesn't believe NPCAT academy always acts in the best interests of schools in the city. NPCAT is based in Middlesbrough, far away from our local community and doesn't understand the local context in which our schools operate.

"As has happened in so many academies, now that schools have been ripped from Local Authority control, schools within the NPCAT academy are forced to buy services from the academy chain which are often more expensive than those provided by the LA and often not as useful for a York setting.

"There is a myth that becoming an academy gives more freedom over the curriculum.

"Schools in the MAT are made to buy a centralised, expensive MAT curriculum when their current schemes, which have been built successfully around our local communities for many years, are swept away.

"All Saints has a unique ethos that has been praised by Ofsted and which we don't want to lose. 

"Finances are also of concern. The top-slice taken from All Saints last year equated to £150,000 and this is due to rise substantially in the coming academic year.

"This is used, in part, to fund extortionate pay rises for the CEO, rising by almost £60,000 since 2020, to £190,000- £195,000 excluding a £30,000 pension package.

"How can it be right that a CEO gets a huge pay rise when class sizes are increasing and support staff are not being replaced.

"NEU members want to see funding and decisions delegated back to the school so senior leaders can make decisions based on the local context and about what is best for the individual school. 

"Academies were sold to the public as increasing autonomy and freedom. It was an outrageous lie. Academisation is the privatisation of our school system which has benefited corporate greed at the expense of our students."

A spokesperson for NPCAT said: "Ofsted have just today completed an inspection of All Saints and we would urge parents and staff to await their report, which will be made public in less than three weeks’ time.

"Part of our strategy for school improvement has included the role of our executive head teacher to give extra support to secondary schools as and when this is needed.

"Parents were kept informed when our executive head came in to give such support to All Saints, and again when this was no longer considered necessary and came to an end.

"Funding for additional support of this kind comes from the pooled budget for the trust and not from one particular school. This is one of the strengths of the academy system and one of the reasons it has been so successful in improving educational outcomes and career opportunities for all our pupils, as evidenced not only by Ofsted but in improved GCSE, A-level and Progress 8 results in all our schools.

"We can confirm that before its expansion, NPCAT commissioned an independent benchmarking exercise in respect of a salary banding for a CEO in a trust of this size.

"This exercise took account of regional and national trusts of similar size in respect of both schools and pupils, and the revised pay band reflects the expanded remit for the new and much enlarged trust."