Release: Flixton Girls School Industrial Action
NEU members at Flixton Girls School will be taking strike action on Thursday 14 March following concerns from staff due the employer’s failure to adequately consider the impacts of the restructure and redundancy threatening job security, workload and quality of education.
Whilst there have been discussions between the school and the NEU, during the consultation which opened on 23 February 2026, there has been limited progress in the implementation of any effective strategies to address the concerns of NEU members. Members feel that the education provision of the staff and pupils continue to be compromised.
James Starnes, NEU Trafford Branch Secretary, said:
“We were horrified by the proposed changes to the curriculum and subsequent worsening of working conditions and provision of subjects which students have a long track record of selecting as GCSE options and being passionate about. We advised members that they had to stand up for themselves, and they have done so with remarkable courage.
“The cuts to beloved subjects are an insult to the students and parents of the school who made a good faith choice to pick Flixton Girls based on their subject offer; cutting German, Psychology and reductions across Health and Social Care, Performing Arts, and Social Science subjects and curriculum time overall will directly and negatively impact the students’ future.
“The dramatic increase in workload and reduction in Non-contact time for staff has a direct impact to the provision of pastoral care which will be able to be offered, there is a distinct concern over the level of care that will be able to be provided in a timely manner to Flixton Girls’ most vulnerable students.
“I know that the wider NEU membership will back them in their pursuit of workplace justice”.
Natasha Cheawood and Darren Ashhurst, Workplace Representatives for the National Education Union, added:
“As union representatives, we recognise that school leaders are operating under intense financial pressure and that they are doing their best within an increasingly constrained budget. We don’t doubt their intentions, but the proposals on the table will have real and lasting consequences for our students. They will mean fewer subject choices, the loss of dedicated teachers who know and care about our young people, and a decline in standards as teaching hours are cut or classes are delivered by non‑specialists in some subjects. None of us want to take strike action, but we cannot stand by while these decisions made strip opportunities away from the very students we are all here to serve.”
Peter Middleman, North West Regional Secretary for the National Education Union, added:
” Our members in Flixton Girls School feel they have no choice but to take industrial action. No one takes the decision to go out on strike lightly, but by choosing to strike, our members are sending a clear message to the school that they will not tolerate the weakening of pupils’ education and reduction in time to be able to effectively support them.”
For more information about the Industrial Action at Flixton Girls School please visit: FGS Strike Microsite