A FURIOUS parent has slammed his son's school after he was labelled a "truant" for missing an online lesson during teacher strikes.
The dad from Coventry claims his son was accused of holding back his classmates and accused striking teachers of "double standards."
The parent who did not want to be named hit back at Finham Park School, in Coventry,after his son received what he described as a "threatening" email for missing an online lesson during the industrial action.
The parent said that the first-year pupils were told their absence from any or all of the three online lessons on March 15 and 16, would result in behaviour points and breaktime detentions, unless the school had received prior notice from a parent.
He claimed that in the message pupils were branded "truant" and told that "you have caused delays with the project which is not fair on your team mates and your absence has been duly noted".
Speaking to Coventry Live, he said: "I thought that email was really excessive and actually quite threatening, especially as the school had said not to come in.
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"We are being blamed for holding the kids back, but what about the teachers who are taking these strike days? I understand their fight for better pay and I have supported them in their cause, but these strikes are having an effect on the kids.
"Not everyone can take a day off when the teachers are on strike. It's even harder when there's strikes for two successive days. I can't tell my boss I'm going to need two days out of the working week."
The angry dad told his son to not accept any form of detention from staff and messaged the school to express his outrage.
He added: "I told him it wasn't his fault because he had to come with me.
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"I sent a message to the school asking what they were going to do about the teachers who have held back the children by going on strike.
"They never replied."
Finham Park's first-year students were not impacted during the first wave of industrial action by members of the National Education Union (NEU) in February.
But the school, which is one of the city's top performers for GCSE and A-level grades, experienced disruption when strikes were staged earlier this month.
"Not knowing when the school is going to be affected makes it hard to plan ahead," the parent added.
"It's hard to make preparations when you don't know."
The parent said that usually the school had been "very supportive" of he and his son.
He said: "Up until now I've had no issue with the school.
"I've had nothing but praise for them, but this really was too excessive."
A spokesperson for the school said: "The school has already been in communication with the parent who chose to take their child to work on the strike day rather than attend online lessons with the rest of their class.
"The student did not receive a sanction and the school cannot sanction staff who are legally allowed to strike, but they do have a legal duty to follow up on attendance concerns."
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