Primary teachers, primary principals, support staff, kaiārahi i te reo, therapists and Ministry of Education field staff and support workers have all voted to take strike action together on 23 October. This means that Amesbury School will be closed for instruction on Thursday 23rd October, as all union members will not be at school.
Please be assured, we love our job and we are 100% committed to ngā ākonga (our students). It is because of this dedication and commitment that we are taking this action. We know that the work we do is incredibly important and hugely valuable, and we want to do this job. But right now, we're finding it increasingly hard to do this important mahi (work). The Government is ignoring our calls for more learning support and to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi in education, and we want better for ngā tamariki (our children).
From our own kaiako (teachers) at Amesbury School, this is what is top of mind for them:
I am worried that our community thinks that this is because of money, because that is all you read about in the media.
Our concerns about lack of support for students with additional needs are not being messaged in the media. Lack of learning support is a really big concern for us - we need much more help and resourcing with this
Our conditions are being eroded through the clawbacks and changes being added
While our concerns are not all about pay, we do want to be recognised with the pay and support that reflects our profession and the skills that we have - respect for our profession and the professionals that we are
We need support with upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi - that is really important for us
The government is taking increasing control - over curriculum, call back days, and how we use our release time
I appreciate that the government has provided some funding for learning support coordinators across the motu (country). However, this is not enough. The support Amesbury School will be eligible for is 0.49 of a learning support coordinator (in essence, a teacher to provide support and coordination for learning support for half the week). We will get this support from 2028 onwards. This is a good start, and is certainly appreciated. However, this support is a long way off (over two years away) for a school that already has considerable and growing needs in learning support, and it also does not provide the direct support needed in all classrooms for ākonga. We have children in every learning space who need 1-1 support in order to learn and thrive. Our kaiako (teachers) need that support in order to enable them to meet the needs of all of our ākonga.
The key actions we are looking for:
More learning support for ngā ākonga - ensure a teacher aide in every classroom
Reinstate funding for te reo Māori learning for educators - enable us to uphold the directive in the Education and Training Act 2020 to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi
Value educators fairly by ensuring their jobs are secure and restoring pay equity
We want better for ngā ākonga. We know ngā ākonga deserve better. So we are striking to get the inclusive and engaging education ngā tamariki need. Our kaiako and our school board are very happy to talk with you if you have further questions about this.
Ngā mihi,
the Amesbury Team
