Parents have spoken of their disappointment that transition days for new Plume School pupils have been cancelled because of an upcoming staff strike.

Year Six pupils from primary schools throughout the district were due to meet their new teachers and classmates at the Mill Road site of The Plume School during a transition day on July 10.

However, the visits have been cancelled as the school will shut on that day to all students except Sixth Form students as members of The National Union of Teachers protest against changes to pay, workloads and pensions alongside members of unions GMB and Unite.

Linda Lloyd, of Ash Grove, Heybridge, has a son who was due to attend the transition day. She said: “He is very worried about starting now as he wanted to meet his form teacher in advance and to know who his classmates would be too."

But David Stephenson, headteacher of the school, has defended the decision to cancel the transition days, saying there was “no possible day we could rearrange to do it” due to restrictions of the amount of pupils allowed on the site at one time and being unable to find an alternative common day with all the primary schools. 

He added the school will prepare a special first day for the pupils in September and said that parents can bring their children to the parents evening on July 10 or arrange to visit the school for a tour.