Strike action planned for this week at a St Neots secondary school has been called off.  

Teachers from both the National Education Union (NEU) and the NASUWT teaching union at Longsands Academy had planned to walk out over “unacceptable management practices”.  

The school’s trust, the Astrea Academy Trust, said it is “very pleased to be sharing the news”.  

A trust spokesperson said: “This is very positive news for the whole Longsands community.  

“Both we and NEU and NASUWT came to the recent round of discussions in good faith and worked tirelessly to find room for compromise and agreement.” 

She added: “Astrea is committed to continuing to engage closely with our union colleagues and our staff more broadly as Longsands’ improvement journey continues.  

“We value our staff and want to ensure they feel fully supported in their work day to day.”  

The walkouts were planned for today (Tuesday) and tomorrow (Wednesday).  

While the strikes have been called off, both unions explained the dispute is still active.  

Paul McLaughlin, regional secretary of the NEU in the Eastern Region, said: “We’ve reached an agreement with [Astrea] whereby there are still a number of unresolved outstanding issues which we are working through with them. 

“We have made sufficient progress during the course of our negotiations up to this point to withdraw the planned action this week. 

“We’ve withdrawn that action and have a framework now to proceed which we hope will avoid the need for any further action.  

“Clearly, there needs to be commitment on both sides and we’re confident we will be able to achieve an outcome to the dispute which is satisfactory.”  

Mark Burns, NASUWT’s national executive member for Cambridgeshire, added: “Time will tell as to whether this is a long term agreement or not."