Union members at Harris Girls’ Academy East Dulwich to strike over redundancies ‘that endanger pupil safety’

Teachers and support staff who are members of the National Education Union (NEU) at Harris Girls’ Academy East Dulwich will take strike action on Tuesday 8 July, Wednesday 9 July and Wednesday 16 July in opposition to a restructuring that threatens to make up to seven experienced staff members redundant, including five members of the safeguarding team.

NEU members are concerned that the Harris Federation is choosing to make cuts to critical frontline roles while maintaining the highest paid executive team in the education sector.

According to a 2023 study by education journalist Warwick Mansell, Systems matter: the cost to classrooms of the academies programme, Harris Federation spent three times more than the average multi-academy trust on executive pay and 23 times more than the largest local authorities.

Our research has shown that in 2023 alone, executive pay at Harris rose by £540,000 (14%), with the Federation’s CEO, Sir Dan Moynihan, becoming the first education executive in the UK to earn over £500,000 annually.

The staff facing redundancy are some of the school’s most experienced and trusted safeguarding and teaching professionals. Their loss would severely undermine support for pupils, especially as no safeguarding or health and safety impact assessments have been carried out.

The proposal would also reduce the school’s overstretched health and safety team from two staff members to just one.

Paddy Emond, Regional Officer at the National Education Union, said:

“No one disputes that schools are under serious funding pressure. But when the highest-paid education executive in the country is overseeing cuts to vital safeguarding roles, something is deeply wrong.

Our members care about their school, their students, and their community. They are being forced to strike because decisions are being made that put pupils at risk while executive salaries continue to rise. This is not about necessity, it is about priorities.”

NEU members are calling on the Harris Federation to withdraw all proposed compulsory redundancies and commit to protecting the roles that support the welfare and safety of pupils.