Exam students in south of England told to plan for rail strike

Guy Francis, assistant principal at Brockenhurst College, said it had a lot of students taking exams this week

Schools and colleges have put contingency plans in place to help students sitting exams during this week's national rail strike.

Many of the 2,500 students at Brockenhurst College in Hampshire use the train to get to class.

The college has arranged minibuses and taxis to transport those taking exams on Tuesday and Thursday.

Henley College in Oxfordshire is telling students to leave an extra two hours for their journeys.

Many students are on study leave and others are able to take advantage of buses or can drive but for others the train is the only option.

'Bit of a pain'

Guy Francis, assistant principal of Brockenhurst College, said: "Those who are affected who can't come in by train, we're putting on other forms of transport for them, in some cases minibuses and taxis, so they can get in for their exams.

"We've also learnt a lot from the pandemic so we know how to deliver blended learning, although the best learning takes place in the classroom we can still have very effective learning remotely."

Henley College has almost 2,000 students coming from Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.

It told its students sitting exams to allow an additional two hours to travel into campus.

"If you would normally start a car journey at 07:45 to arrive at 08:30, please start this journey no later than 05:45." the college advised.

'Fix the mess'

For students not taking exams, the strike action created the same issues with remote learning during lockdown, one described it as a "bit of a pain" and another said it was "frustrating".

The National Union of Students, which represents those in higher and further education, said: "The responsibility for disruption caused to students during an already stressful time sits squarely with rail firm managers and the government.

"Students call on rail firms to negotiate fairly with workers, and we call on government to stop blocking a fair settlement. Rail firms and government must fix the mess they've created."

Train operators said they were trying to work with unions to end the dispute which centres on job cuts, pay and conditions.

Treasury minister Simon Clarke ruled out the direct involvement of government in the talks and said the railway would have to "financially sustain itself".