Catholic schools on strike in Nottingham Diocese multi-academy trust

Nine schools in the St Ralph Sherwin Multi Academy Trust are striking over drastic pay cuts and job losses.

A priest from St Joseph’s parish, Derby blessed a picket line of striking teachers last week in one of a planned 14 strikes involving schools in the Trust which runs 25 schools across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and East Staffordshire.

The Trust is about £10 million in debt, employs more than a thousand staff and educates approximately 8,000 students. Since 2023, it has received two “notices to improve” from the Department for Education.

The website Education Uncovered reported data from the Department of Education showing that the St Ralph Sherwin Trust had a £9.2 million deficit last August, “the highest figure for any of England’s 2,233 trusts in 2024-25.”

The Trust is facing 40 compulsory redundancies and proposing to restructure existing job roles. More than 100 school support staff are affected by the changes, including teaching assistants, lunchtime supervisors, admin support, breakfast and afterschool club workers and lay chaplains in 15 workplaces. The initial proposals, now dropped, would have left “many [staff] unable to meet basic living costs”, said a spokesman for the trade union Unison.

He added: “Unison believes these proposals unfairly target the lowest paid staff, despite their modest wages and significant contribution to both the workforce and the promotion of the Catholic faith. Workers feel the proposals contradict the Trust’s stated Catholic values of dignity, justice, and care for employees. At the same time, there is grave concern that viable alternatives avoiding cuts to frontline staff have not been fully explored.”

The strikes have won support from clergy – some of whom reportedly mention the situation in the parish notices –  and parents. “We are aware of how [support staff] are being treated,” Sarah Aldred, parent of a student at the St John Houghton Voluntary Academy in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, told The Tablet.

“We are in a SEND crisis nationwide and more teaching assistants should be put into schools,” she said. “So many children need extra support. Teaching assistants pick up on these children’s emotions and that supports the rest of the class. They know when a child is having a good or a bad day and when to take a child out of the class so the rest of the class is not affected.” She added: “Each school receives money for SEND students. That money goes to the Trust. We are asking where it has gone.”

Fr David Cain, parish priest of Holy Family church, Leicester told The Tablet: “At the heart of Catholic social teaching is a preferential option for the poor.” Referring to the fact one St Ralph Sherwin Trust staff member was paid more than £150,000 in 2025, he said: “What is happening in the trusts is a reflection of the preferential option for the rich.”

He added: “What I would have hoped for in a Catholic environment is that executive teams would take a salary cut in solidarity with others.”

The St Ralph Sherwin Multi Academy Trust is currently inviting applications until 30 May for the post of “Director of People“ with a salary of £95,831.00 – £108,499.00. This position entails responsibilities across all three multi academy trusts in Nottingham Diocese.

Bishop Patrick McKinney of Nottingham, who is a member of the Trust, did not reply to a letter about multi academy trusts in the diocese from Fr Cain and sent on behalf of the Leicester deanery. The bishop did not offer any comment in response to a request from The Tablet.

According to Unison, Bishop McKinney has received more than 1,700 letters from parents, teachers and the local community about the Trust’s difficulties, urging him to pause the proposals “until all financial avenues that protect staff, children, and community are examined”. At a recent pilgrimage to Beauvale Priory in Nottingham, parents questioned Bishop McKinney on what the diocese could do to end the dispute.

“Bishop Patrick has been very poorly advised,” the governor of one school who asked to remain anonymous told The Tablet.  “People are looking to him as a spiritual father. They are finding it difficult in terms of faith. Staff are upset and angry. There’s a culture of fear. There has been no investigation into the fact the trust board has not been doing its job,” he added.

In a move that has sparked widespread anxiety in the diocese, the Trust is understood to be reducing the number of school chaplains from 15 across the 25 schools, to three, serving more than 7,000 children. “One chaplain came to me in tears after being made redundant,” said the governor. Those remaining “will mainly be in secondary schools, and will be able to go to primary schools for about six days a year,” he said.

A former governor of a trust school told The Tablet: “A great number of parents are removing their children from Catholic education as a result of this. Staff ring me and say the stress is affecting their mental health and they are having sleepless nights.”

Job cuts had led to the removal of staff needed by the most vulnerable children: “These staff are the ones that calm the children down. They are their trusted adults,” he said. “For those children, schools like the one where I was a governor, are the only place they regard as safe, and ordered, and the only place where they consistently receive help and kindness.”

Invoices to school suppliers remain unpaid, according to Education Uncovered. It published part of an email exchange with the Trust’s chief financial officer where she stated: “There are overdue invoices across the Trust. This is a direct consequence of the Trust’s current deficit position and highlights why the [staff] restructuring process is necessary.” She mentioned the Trust had received “cash injections from the Department of Education”.

However, the governor who spoke to The Tablet praised the chief finance officer, a recent appointment, for including headteachers in discussions on setting their budgets for the first time in several years.

“Our school did not have a deficit when our headteacher ran the budget,” he said. “The bishop cleared out the existing Trust board. The chief executive of the new board said that it didn’t have an overall picture [of the finances] for the following year. This is what happens when you replace 25 school governance managers with one person.”

 Unison told The Tablet that following strikes so far, talks with the Trust had “been progressing in a more positive manner,” but added “at the time of writing, workers have not received a suitable or concrete offer that could suspend further strike action.”

One source told The Tablet the Trust’s initial proposal to restructure the contracts for remaining teaching assistants had been dropped. They will remain on 52-week contracts. Schools are also losing support staff who supervise dinner and break times. “At one school, the head and deputy head teacher are now doing dinner time supervision,” the source added.

Pledges in the initial consultation for those losing their jobs to be offered equivalent posts – where available – at other schools in the Trust had not materialised, he added. In one instance, a Catholic school was advertising for mid-day supervisors apparently unaware that four midday supervisors in a second Trust school were about to lose their jobs.

The chief executive of the Trust, Kevin Gritton, said in a statement: “We are deeply sorry for any distress caused around proposed staffing changes at some schools and recognise the impact of strike action on pupils and families.”

He continued: “We continue to pursue all possible options with union colleagues and with staff… but have to ensure that the overall Trust budget is in a balanced position come 1 September 2026.”

Gritton added: “We will continue to hold discussions with Union colleagues and will seek to avert any strike action.”

The parish of St Joseph’s Derby is holding a day of “dawn to dusk” Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament on Tuesday 19 May 6am – 9pm. Billed as “an outpouring of prayer for our schools”, the day will include the Rosary, Divine Mercy and Mass.

“At a time of challenge and uncertainty for our Catholic schools, we are invited to turn again to the Lord in prayer,” says a flyer for the day. The parish primary school is St Joseph’s Catholic Voluntary Academy, Derby.

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