TEACHERS are set to strike, tomorrow, in the latest round of industrial action – more schools have now been affected.
Across Devon 30 schools are now listed on the county council’s website as being affected with four of them closing.
So far in the list of 30 schools affected by the strike four of them will be fully closed and the remainder partially closed. Among the partially closed schools are Decoy Primary School in Newton Abbot and Ide Primary School.
The biggest teachers' strike in years will go ahead after unions said the education secretary ‘squandered the opportunity’ to avoid action – while firefighters have voted overwhelmingly to walkout after experiencing what their union says is a 12% drop in real-terms earnings.
The teachers' strike comes after last-minute talks were held by Education Secretary Gillian Keegan on Monday in a bid to resolve the pay dispute before planned strikes this week.
Members of the National Education Union (NEU) in England and Wales will now walk out on Wednesday, with more industrial action planned in the following weeks.
A spokesperson for Devon County Council said: ‘Individual headteachers will decide whether or not to close their schools in consultation with their governors. The decision will be based on whether the school can safely look after pupils with reduced staff on strike days.
‘Heads may also decide they only have enough staff to open part of their school, in which case we’ve asked for them to give priority to vulnerable children and the children of key workers as well as those taking exams this year.
‘We’ve asked schools to let us know what they’ve decided and we’ll be collating the information at https://www.devon.gov.uk/schools/closure/ .
So far the list of 23 schools affected by the strike on the council’s website does not include any from Teignbridge.