Outwood Grange Academy: Teachers at three Wakefield schools to strike over plans to extend school day

Members of the National Education Union (NEU) working in schools operated by Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT) will walk out from tomorrow (Tuesday, June 10).

The walk out comes as part of ongoing protests against the trust’s plans to increase the length of the school day by 30 minutes a day from September 2025 onwards.

NEU members at Outwood Grange, Outwood Freeston and Outwood Hemsworth academies in Wakefield, will join teachers at 11 schools across Yorkshire, East Midlands, North East and North West in taking six days of strike action.

Debbie Kahler for the NEU said: “Our committed and hard-working members of the National Education Union have voted for strike action on the grounds of workload and changes to the current school day. This is not a decision they have taken lightly, as they have the best interest of the children at heart.

“They need a realistic working day. Teachers already have a huge workload which is having significant impact on the retention of teachers in schools. Teachers are working harder and longer. The Trust can no longer ignore the pressures teachers are under.

“It’s time to invest in what truly matters, support the staff and pupils. Squeezing more teaching into an already jam-packed working day is not the solution. Outwood Grange Academy are putting more strain on teachers, on their work life balance, and affecting the teaching staff of families.”

Staff will take two days of strike action this week on June 10 and 11 and a further three days of strike action next week on June 17, 18 and 19. It follows strike action that took place last week on Tuesday, June 3.

Outwood Grange Academies Trust has said that plans to increase the length of the school day by 30 minutes a day, at its 28 secondary schools “will mean students can learn more and achieve even stronger outcomes.”

It would also ensure their school day meets the government’s expectation for a 32.5-hour week.

A spokesperson for the trust said: “We have constructively engaged with the trade unions and our valued colleagues since October regarding our proposal to re-shape our secondary school day, which currently ends at 2.30pm – and is therefore short of the Government's 32.5-hour-a-week minimum expectation.

“The change we have proposed is small but will mean students can learn more and achieve even stronger outcomes, and that the school day is within the recommended bracket.

“It is therefore a real shame that unions have encouraged this strike action – which will only serve to disrupt children’s education, especially as the days the unions have chosen for the strikes are all when students are taking GCSEs, exams they have worked so hard for.

The Department for Education introduced new non-statutory guidelines in July 2023, which said it expected all schools to offer a 32.5-hour week. It initially said all schools should comply with this by September 2023, but then pushed that deadline back by a year “in recognition of the pressures facing schools.”

Currently, Outwood schools open at 8.25am and lessons end at 2.30pm. The trust wants to extend this to around 3pm.

The union has said that the proposed changes are being “implemented without proper consultation of the workforce” and the NEU believes this will lead to reduced planning time, a “deterioration in work-life balance for teachers and support staff” and lead to issues over the retention and recruitment of teachers.

A trust spokesperson added: “We have approached this as a genuine consultation and have taken on board feedback to make changes to our original proposal. We have also made a commitment to meet regularly with the trade unions to identify any unnecessary workload across our team so that the new school week is overall ‘workload neutral’.

“We remain open to constructive dialogue and collaborative working, but we must prioritise our students so they get the best possible education. Our pupils have told us they want to develop life skills such as financial literacy, more careers education and more time to debate issues they experience in their lives.

“Our re-modelled week will mean we can deliver this and more for them. We hope the unions will agree that this is what matters, and that a school day that is below the recommended minimum short-changes students.”

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Strike action will take place in the following OGAT schools in Yorkshire.

• Outwood Academy Grange, Wakefield
• Outwood Academy Freeston, Wakefield
• Outwood Academy Hemsworth, Wakefield
• Outwood Academy City, Sheffield
• Outwood Academy Danum, Doncaster
• Outwood Academy Easingwold, North Yorks
• Outwood Academy Foxhills, North Lincolnshire
• Outwood Academy Shafton, Barnsley