Parents feel the pain of strike as 1,600 London schools are closed

Spells trouble: students carrying Harry Potter posters join the TUC march through London today as public sector workers staged a mass strike

Millions of children missed school today as Britain was hit by the biggest strike for a generation - with even David Cameron's family caught up in the strike.

Public sector workers attempted to bring vital services to a standstill in the row over pension reforms. In London, 1,629 schools were closed with 403 seeing some disruption. Only about 180 were not affected by the strike.

Despite the impact on services around the country being less severe than expected, parents felt the brunt of the strike. Tens of thousands in London were forced to bring their children to work, organise emergency childcare or take a day off. Some parents turned up at school gates unaware of the industrial action.

David Cameron's five-year-old son Arthur Elwen spent the day at a friend's house while parents at the church school attended by the Prime Minister's daughter attacked the strikers for "not recognising" the country's debt.

Private schools were also affected. About 78 staff at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith went on strike and 40 staff at City of London Girls' School.

Bute House in Hammersmith was partially closed. Chancellor George Osborne's daughter, who is in year four, is believed to have been among the pupils sent home.

Early government figures suggested that across the country almost three in four schools were hit by the walkout by members of five teaching unions. Schools minister Nick Gibb said today's strikes, called over plans to make public servants work longer and pay more towards their retirement, would "benefit no one".

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL union, said her members were taking action "with deep regret and reluctance". She added: "My members don't want to disrupt young people's education even for one day, but they know and fear that the Government's plans will do damage long-term to young people's education."

St Mary Abbots - the Church of England primary in Kensington where both the Prime Minister and Education Secretary Michael Gove's children are pupils - was partially closed today with only about 60 children able to attend.

Parents, some of whom had one child at school and another at home, criticised the strikes, saying "everyone's hurting". Michael Young, 50, an IT consultant whose four-year-old daughter Joanna is in the reception class at St Mary Abbots, mistakenly took his daughter to school.

He said: "I personally think this nation pays itself more than it can afford and it seems to me that people are just not recognising the debt we've got. I do have sympathy with the people striking, everyone is hurting, but everyone's got to make their own decisions."

Mr Cameron's daughter Nancy, seven, would have been in one of the two classes that did have lessons.

At Quintin Kynaston Secondary in St John's Wood, 49-year-old doctor Abdul Terah arrived with his 13-year-old son in uniform, not knowing whether or not the school would be open.

He said: "I am not angry about the strikes. I am in complete support of people fighting for their rights. I just wasn't sure if school was on or not."

Minister Francis Maude hailed the success of contingency plans in minimising the disruption as he launched an outspoken attack on the strikers.

Urging them to "go to work", he added: "You enter public service to follow a vocation of public service, and you are letting down the people who depend on your public services." But maths teachers Tom Holder, an NUT union representative, said: "We are not being treated with the respect we deserve by the Government. We are getting less for a bigger contribution. It is lowering people's estimations of the profession."

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "People don't like striking. But unless you take a stand you will just get pushed and pushed."

Journalist Toby Young's West London Free School remained fully open today. He said no staff had gone on strike, despite some being union members.
Union chiefs said the walkout was a response to the "attack" on public servants being carried out by ministers.

The strike was called over the pension reforms, but announcements by Mr Osborne in yesterday's autumn statement angered them further.

Public sector workers are set to face another two years of pay restraint, with salary increases capped at one per cent, while an extra 310,000 job losses are expected - with the TUC estimating 41,000 of those will hit London.

A tale of two teachers

'I'd lose too much money if i joined them'

Science teacher Priyanthi Sothiratnam was urged to join today's protests - but refused because she could not afford it.

She is one of at least two teachers at Quintin Kynaston School in St John's Wood who broke the strike today.

A total of 60 teachers at the state secondary joined the mass walkout - and were supported by headteacher Jo Shuter. But Ms Sothiratnam said although she "wholeheartedly supported" the cause, for financial reasons she cannot join them because her husband has been out of work.

She said: "He has no job and I have a two-year-old girl just going to nursery who I need to support. I would just lose too much money."

'I regret taking day off, but I feel strongly'

Headteacher Kevin Baskill, who runs Christchurch school in Ilford, said he feels guilty about pupils staying at home, but is taking action to protect education in London.

The 1,000 pupils at his primary are staying away as all but three teachers walk out. Mr Baskill, who is striking for the first time in his 23 years as a head, said: "I worry about the future for schools as less people will be attracted to London. There has been a pay freeze and people have student loans to pay back and the property ladder to get on. This is unique to London.

"People will go elsewhere because it's cheaper. I regret taking a day off, but I feel strongly."

How the rest of Britain fared

Across Britain three in four schools were closed or disrupted along with courts, museums and jobcentres.

Thousands of children had to take the day off, forcing parents to go without a day's pay to care for them.

In Kent, about 126 schools have been fully closed, with another 104 partially shut. A total of 242 out of 439 schools were closed in Birmingham, 87 closed in Nottingham, and 153 of the 411 closed in Staffordshire. In Coventry 91 were shut while just four were fully open.

There was disruption to hospitals and Whitehall departments but government ministers said transport had been hit less severely than they had feared. Bristol airport was operating normally. The Port of Dover said services to Calais and Dunkirk were "running well and to time".

More than 8,000 probation and family court staff also joined in the pension strike. The Public and Commercial Services union claimed a "huge" turnout, with up to 90 per cent of staff striking in some government departments, including Revenue and Customs.

Marches and protests in Brighton, Worthing, Horsham and Hastings were expected to attract thousands.

The Government banned NHS trusts from revealing how many local staff were on strike or the number of cancelled operations and appointments. It sent letters to trusts advising them that a "national position" statement would be issued to the media.

Lawyers joined a small picket outside the Crown Prosecution Service in Manchester city centre and workers on the Mersey tunnels set up picket lines from midnight.

The Scottish Parliament said about half of its employees were absent. Some 300,000 Scots and 170,000 people in Wales went on strike. Joe Murphy

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in