Teachers and staff who are members of the National Education Union have started the first of nine days of planned strike action
Thousands of pupils have been forced to stay at home after teachers at a Birmingham-based schools trust began industrial action over planned job cuts.
Teachers and staff who are members of the National Education Union have started the first of nine days of planned strike action on Wednesday (January 14), in response to the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP) announcing proposed cuts last October.
Strike action is taking place at 20 of the Trust’s 24 schools, which are spread around the West Midlands in Sutton Coldfield, Erdington in Birmingham, Lichfield, Tamworth, Coleshill and Coventry.
Read more: Midland schools strike dates confirmed as teachers walkout amid redundancy row
The action is set to take place on Wednesday, January 14 to Thursday, January 15 this week.
Then on three days next week – Tuesday, January 20, Wednesday, January 21 and Thursday, January 22.
And on four days the week after – Monday, January 26, Tuesday, January 27, Wednesday, January 28 and Thursday, January 29.
The Arthur Terry School in Sutton Coldfield (Image: )
The proposed cuts, and consequent action by the National Education Union members, have meant disruption at ALL six of the trust’s secondary schools, including The Arthur Terry School and The Royal Sutton School in Sutton Coldfield, The Coleshill School, Stockland Green School in Erdington, Nether Stowe School in Lichfield and West Coventry Academy have been affected.
Four – The Arthur Terry School, The Royal Sutton School, The Coleshill School and Nether Stowe School, state on their website that they are not open on Wednesday or Thursday.
While two of those schools indicated some pupils would be in school, the majority would not.
Read more: Jobs being cut at trust with 24 schools amid ‘financial challenges’
Stockland Green said Year 11 pupils and a certain number of other pupils would be in school, but the rest would not. And West Coventry said Years 7 to 11 would be at home and Years 12 and 13 in school.
The other four secondaries confirmed pupils would be learning from home and set lessons, like in Covid times.
ATLP said: “All secondary schools partially open, prioritising vulnerable children and/or some Y11 pupils (exam year).”
Teachers on strike outside The Royal Sutton School in Sutton Coldfield over planned changes by the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership including a number of compulsory job cuts (Image: Max Manton)
While another 14 primary schools have also been affected. ATLP said there were full closures at seven primaries – Curdworth Primary, Coton Green Primary, Hill West Primary, Mere Green Primary, Scotch Orchard Primary, Anna Seward Primary and Osborne Primary on Wednesday and Thursday (January 13 and 14).
A couple, including Osbourne Primary in Erdington and Paget Primary in Pype Hayes, have posted on their websites and said: “Due to industrial action, the school will operate under amended plans on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th January 2026.
“Please read the latest communication from the headteacher for full details.”
Read more: Birmingham teachers set to strike over ‘large-scale’ redundancies
ATLP said: “All other primary schools are partially open to particular year groups.”
These are Paget and Slade in Erdington, Deykin Avenue Junior and Infant School in Witton.
Two Gates and William MacGregor primaries in Tamworth, St Chads CE and St Michael’s CE in Lichfield.
While four schools – The Bridge Academy in Lichfield, Greysbrooke Primary School in Shenstone, Brookvale Primary School in Erdington, and Dunstall Park Primary in Tamworth – have not been affected by the strike action.
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ATLP said it was ‘facing financial challenges’ and said, as a consequence, it had to make a number of staff redundant.
The NEU said it has 768 members across the 24 Trust sites and a ballot on strike action saw 99 per cent vote yes from a turnout of 84 per cent.
Chris Denson, National Executive Member of the NEU said: “Members are really concerned for the students that they teach.
“Any cuts should come from the massive central office spend, not from teachers and support staff who do so much for the children that they support day in day out.
“Members are deeply concerned about the potential impact on support for children, for SEND support, for the impact on class sizes, not to mention the loss of jobs for members and their colleagues.
“The ATLP need to drastically rethink their plans. Cutting pupil-facing roles will always damage education, wherever it happens.
“The massive central spend and central structure need to be cut, not support for students and their teachers and support staff jobs.”
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In a statement given to the BBC, ATLP is purported to have said that cuts to staffing are needed due to ‘overstaffing caused by an accounting error’.
BirminghamLive has asked the Trust to confirm that statement and the reasons behind it but has yet to receive a response.
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ATLP has referred to its latest statement regarding the strike action issued on Tuesday (January 13) where a spokesperson for the Trust said: “We are committed to tackling the financial challenges we face so that we bring stability to the trust and schools as quickly as possible, while at the same time maintaining the high standards of education and care that our pupils and their families deserve and expect.
“Returning to a financially sustainable position means taking some difficult decisions.
“We continue to explore every area of expenditure and have identified numerous savings through reducing non-staffing costs.
“To ensure we move forward rapidly and are secure long-term, we have also started a consultation on a restructure of the organisation.
“We are continuing to implement a programme of significant change to improve the trust’s financial position, including appointing a new interim finance director to provide oversight on how decisions are made and evaluated.
“The industrial action, affecting schools across the Trust, is regrettable as pupils will miss vital days of education and parents will be hugely inconvenienced.
“We are doing all we can to resolve the dispute as swiftly as possible and we continue to seek constructive talks with the NEU.
“Plans are in place to minimise any disruption to learning both today and on those days when future strikes are planned.”