Teachers strike outdoors faculty over gangs of male pupils attempting to intimidate them at school and the playground

Teachers have gone on strike outside their school over alleged gangs of male pupils trying to intimidate them in class and the playground.

Staff at Haydon Bridge High School in Northumberland are taking action over their ‘appalling’ working conditions this Tuesday and Wednesday, with further strike days scheduled for December 16, 17 and 18.

Staff say they feel unsupported by senior figures as they see little effort being made to tackle these issues. 

The school said it remains open for years seven and 11 on the strike days.  

Previous strikes, scheduled on November 19 and 25, were called off for talks to find a resolution.

But, an agreement was not reached as teacher union representatives say ‘nothing’ had been done by the school ‘in the last few weeks’ after giving them ‘chance after chance.’

The NEU (National Education Union) and the NASUWT (The Teachers’ Union) who organised the action, say the walk out is due to a lack of progress on measures to crackdown on the behaviour. 

Sean Kelly, branch secretary for NEU, said: ‘A lot of this comes from dreadful pupil behaviour around the school. Not just the low-level disruption that goes on but also violent incidents.

‘We think there’s a culture of misogyny within the school where female teachers particularly are being targeted by gangs, which is totally unacceptable and needs to be tackled. 

‘We keep getting reports of assaults taking place in school, fights taking place.’ 

Student misdemeanors often go unpunished, so they no longer fear the consequences of their disruptive actions. 

Engineering teacher, Matthew Ainsley, said punishments such as putting students in isolation are not working because they aren’t enforced.

‘Instead, pupils are allowed to roam freely through the corridors,’ he says.

‘We have had fights and recently, we have had gangs of male students who won’t do what female staff ask of them. 

‘Some of the female teachers have experienced groups gathering around them to argue a point, when they are simply asked to stop playing football or go into the classroom.

‘It is intimidating for the teachers.

‘You get fights, mostly in the yard, which can be challenging for staff to break up.

‘There was a fight on the bus, which was quite nasty. A member of staff had to go on the bus and break that up.

‘Staff are often unsupported when students are removed from lessons, and asked to take them back again.’ 

Punishments include being put in isolation, or ‘restart’ where pupils are forced to reflect on poor behaviour with the head teacher and their peers.

The school’s most recent OFSTED report, from September, said there was ‘persistent disruptive behaviour of a minority of pupils that is leading to high levels of suspensions.’ 

The school has just over 400 pupils aged between 11 and 18, but headcount is on the decline parents are removing their children from the school.

Some staff have also left due to the ongoing issues.

Simon Kennedy, regional organiser for NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, added: ‘It boils down to a lack of management of behaviour in schools.

‘It is difficult being a teacher, but it’s about having a system in place to ensure pupils are punished and they know the consequences.

‘We have found there are massive inconsistencies in how things are dealt with, so the children do not know the rules.

‘Here, because of the failures of leadership, the pupils aren’t clear on what the consequences of their behaviour are.

‘Over the past 14 months we have been raising these issues with the school, and they have failed to listen to their staff, which has put us in the situation where we are having to take strike action.

‘It is done with such a heavy heart because the teachers want to be in the school teaching.

‘The feedback from our members is that behaviour has deteriorated and is much more challenging in recent years at all schools. If you talk to any teacher they will talk about behaviour and workload.

Julie Parkin, NASUWT national executive member for Northumberland, said the school’s most recent Ofsted monitoring report stated there was ‘persistent disruptive behaviour of a minority of pupils that is leading to high levels of suspensions.’

Headteacher David Nisbet said: ‘We are of course disappointed about the strike action this week.

‘We have been working with the unions, staff and the County Council for a number of weeks to find a way forward to address the concerns raised – and this work will continue.

‘We are doing all we can to minimise the impact on pupils’ education. The school is open as normal this week on Monday, Thursday and Friday, and Years 7 and 11 were also in school as normal on Tuesday and Wednesday.’