Perth and Kinross school closures announced as strike action by non-teaching staff begins

dailyrecord.co.uk:

All Perth and Kinross primary schools as well as early learning and childcare (ELC), Intensive Support Provision (ISP) and Perth’s Fairview School will be closed this Monday, October 21, due to UNISON strike action in a national pay dispute.All secondary schools – except St John’s Academy in Perth and the Community School of Auchterarder – will be open on Monday.All secondary ISP provision will be closed.

Navigate secondary support teaching will be open.PKC further said that due to the October holidays it had not been possible to complete risk assessments for primaries and ELC settings and they could not guarantee there will be enough staff to ensure pupil safety.

The decision was therefore taken to close them.The situation will be reviewed daily during the two weeks of industrial action planned by UNISON.Perth and Kinross Council leader Councillor Grant Laing said: “I am extremely disappointed these strikes, which are part of a national dispute over pay, are going ahead in Perth and Kinross.“Notification for these strikes only arrived on Monday October 7, at the very start of the holidays.“That’s made it impossible for our officers to plan a response and so we have had no choice but to close all primaries on Monday, as well as Fairview School and Intensive Support Provision, to ensure the safety of our pupils.

We had hoped for a resolution but unfortunately this has not materialised.“We will be monitoring the impact of this industrial action throughout the next two weeks and re-opening schools where we can.“However, it is likely that a considerable number of young people could potentially miss out on two weeks of school.