UPDATE: Devon schools closed by Teachers Strike

Update: As of his morning 16 schools will be closed or partially closed sue to decisions to close beign made late in the day.

The list has been updated witht he additional school names.

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At least 14 schools across Devon will be closed or partially closed tomorrow due to strike action from members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT).

Six schools, including will be fully closed as a result of the strikes while eight others will be partially closed potentially disrupting work for parents across the county.

The strike was called as part of an ongoing dispute with the government over what the NUT argues is excessive levels of workload and bureaucracy in schools.

Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT said: “Teachers deeply regret the disruption caused by this strike action to parents and teachers.

“The Government’s refusal, however, to engage to resolve the dispute means that we have no alternative other than to demonstrate the seriousness of our concerns.

“Teachers’ levels of workload are intolerable –the Government’s own survey, published last month, shows that primary school teachers work nearly 60 hours a week and secondary school teachers work nearly 56 hours a week. 2 in 5 teachers are leaving the profession in the first 5 years of teaching as are many others.

“This is bad for children and bad for education.”

While the strike will affect schools across the country the impact of the strike will be less than last year as the NASWUT union will not be taking part in this round of strikes as they say that the promise of talks with the Secretary of State were key developments.

This will mean most secondary schools, -where the largest concentration of NASWUT members works- will not be as badly affected by the strike as in previous strikes.

A spokesman for the Department for Education (DfE) said they had further meaningful talks with the unions but "Despite this constructive engagement with their concerns, the NUT is taking action that will disrupt parents' lives, hold back children's education and damage the reputation of the profession."

The NUT however claim that the DfE is being insincere over the extent of the talks as the Education secretary Michel Gove and his junior Ministers had not attended the meetings.

Christine Blower continued: “The NUT recognises that other workers are having their pensions squeezed. We believe that this is wrong too – everyone should be entitled to a decent standard of living in retirement.

“Michael Gove can resolve this situation by listening to our concerns and doing something about them. Our concerns are not just for teachers but for the future standard and provision of education”.

List of affected schools in Devon tomorrow.

Marland School -Closed

Blackawton Primary School- Closed

Stoke Hill Infant & Nursery School- Partial Closure

Dartington Church Of England Primary School- Closed

Exeter Road Community Primary School- Partial Closure

Heathcoat Primary School- Closed

South Dartmoor Community College- Closed

Marwood School- Partial Closure

Withycombe Raleigh Church Of England Primary School, Exmouth

Newtown Primary School- Partial Closure

The Park Community School, Barnstaple- Partial Closure

The King’s School- Partial Closure

St James’ School- Partial Closure

The Lampard Community School- Partial Closure

Two Moors Primary School- Partial Closure