The Cooper School is a large secondary school in Bicester, known for its commitment to personal development, raising aspirations and community engagement. With a history of fostering a supportive and inclusive environment, the school is dedicated to providing a well-rounded education that empowers students to achieve their full potential.
The school communicated to parents, carers and staff this week that it has been informed of intended strike action by some staff in January 2025. This action comes following a restructuring process to redress the balance between income and expenditure at the school.
Over the past eighteen months the school has experienced significant financial difficulties. Like many schools nationwide, The Cooper School is facing financial constraints due to exponential increases in energy costs, high levels of inflation, significant staff pay increases (6.5% in 2023 and 5.5% in 2024) and decreasing student numbers. Regrettably, the full impact of these factors was not identified early enough and was exacerbated by errors in setting the budget prior to the school joining the Acer Trust. As a result, the school has been unable to make changes in a more gradual manner.
The school joined Acer Trust, an Oxfordshire-based multi academy trust, in January 2024. The Trust has provided financial and leadership support to the school whilst identifying changes that would allow it to operate in line with its funding. We are committed to ensuring all the funding received from the Education Skills and Funding Agency (ESFA) is directly spent in schools and had no intention of making changes or restructuring when we took over. However, we inherited a financial situation which means the current operating model is untenable as the schools is significantly overspending. We have therefore had to support the school in making difficult decisions to ensure the school can provide excellent education and pastoral care at the same time as running a balanced budget.
Owing to the scale of the issue, we have also approached the ESFA for exceptional financial support to ensure the deficit position at The Cooper School does not adversely affect wider Acer Trust schools. Our priority has been to minimise the impact of changes on students at the school and therefore the process began with changes to non-staff costs. However, since staffing makes up over 80% of school expenditure, it has also been necessary to review the school’s staff structure in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the school and to provide high-quality education for all students.
The decision to implement a restructuring process has not been taken lightly. In reviewing the structure, we have carefully considered the needs of students and looked at the structures of other successful schools in the area. We also sought the help of a School Management Resource Advisor (SRMA), who assessed the school’s budget against nationally recognised benchmarks. In June 2024, we began a consultation with staff about the first aspects of the proposed structure, with further steps taking place from October 2024. These steps gave rise to reductions in administrative staff, support staff, and leadership structures. Staff were invited to give feedback on the plans, and we have carefully considered every suggestion as part of our process. We made several changes to our original proposal before the final structure was approved by Governors in December.
As a result of the changes, a small number of support staff roles have been made redundant, and some teachers’ Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR) payments have been removed or reduced to put them in line with staff in similar positions in other schools (TLRs are payments given to staff members who carry out roles which are in addition to their core teaching role). Teachers whose TLRs have been affected will continue to receive this element of their pay in full for three years under the nationally agreed pay protection process. During these three years, staff will continue to fulfil duties commensurate with that pay.
This has been a very challenging process for staff, and several colleagues have been directly affected by the agreed changes. Alongside questions and concerns raised in response to the consultation, the staff body also raised concerns about the management of the consultation process and the leadership of the school. As a result, we launched an all-staff survey and sought meetings with the school’s representatives for two recognised Trade Unions, National Education Union (NEU) and NASUWT, in order to fully understand the concerns. We have responded directly to the concerns and questions raised and have shared plans for addressing the issues identified.
We have sought to maintain ongoing dialogue with Union representatives, with a view to engaging in meaningful dialogue and exploring all available solutions to minimise the impact of changes on our valued colleagues. Despite being in the early stages of this dialogue, one of the two Unions, NEU, has issued notice to the School of strike action over workload concerns. The proposed strike action is due to occur over six days in January 2025: Wednesday 8th, Tuesday 14th, Wednesday 15th, Monday 20th, Tuesday 21st, and Wednesday 22nd. This strike action is being funded by the NEU so will not impact on teachers’ incomes.
We have requested that, for the sake of the students affected, Unions delay the planned action for one more week to allow us to conclude the negotiations over one particular area and to avoid having to share the difficult news over strike action with staff and parents before the holiday period. Unfortunately, Unions were not prepared to extend the negotiations by a week.
We understand the frustration and worry that these kinds of processes can bring, and we remain committed to maintaining open lines of communication to resolve these issues constructively.
Our primary concern is the education and well-being of our students. We want to assure parents, carers, and the wider school community that we are taking all possible steps to minimise disruption to students during this time. Contingency plans have been developed and are being shared with parents and carers, to ensure that learning continues and that students are supported throughout the strike action.
“We deeply value the hard work and dedication of our teaching staff, and we regret that the current situation has led to planned strike action. However, we must also ensure the long-term viability of The Cooper School. Our priority remains delivering the best education for our students, and we are committed to working collaboratively to find a resolution that supports everyone involved,” Nathan Thomas, CEO of Acer Trust.
We thank our school community for their understanding and patience during this challenging time. We will continue to provide updates as the situation develops and remain focused on supporting both our students and staff.
For further information, please contact:
Nathan Thomas
CEO Acer Trust
office@acertrust.org.uk
Acer Trust Arnolds Way Oxford OX2 9JE