Over half of district's schools affected by strikes

Another seven schools in West Berkshire will either close or partially close on Thursday over pensions fight

UPDATE: It was initially reported that Burghfield St Mary's would close on Thursday, however, it has now been announced that the school will remain open.

MORE than half of the schools in West Berkshire will be closed all day or partially closed tomorrow (Thursday) owing to teacher strikes.

As of yesterday afternoon (Tuesday), another seven schools announced they would also be forced to close as teachers protest against Government proposals to change the conditions of pension schemes and increase the retirement age.

The additional schools are Bradfield Primary, Burghfield St Mary's, Chieveley Primary, Fir Tree Primary, Little Heath, Pangbourne Primary and The Willink.

This brings the total number of schools in West Berkshire affected by the strikes to 40 schools, with 38 managing to stay open.

The strikes came about after members of two national teaching unions voted to take action to defend teachers' pensions. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers union followed the NUT lead, and 83 per cent of its members voted to take strike action against the plans to increase teachers' pension contributions

from 6.4 per cent to 9.8 per cent and raise the retirement age to aged 68.

The teacher strikes are also expected to coincide with civil servants striking over a planned increase in the retirement age for public sector workers, from 60 to 66.

See the links to related stories for details of the schools which will be closing or partially closing tomorrow (Thursday).