Notts: Teachers’ strike is a quiet affair for local schools

At schools like Outwood Academy Portland and Outwood Academy Valley in Worksop, Elizabethan Academy and Oaks in Retford, Dinnington Comprehensive, Wales High School and Maltby Academy, students were told to stay at home.

But the full car parks at all those schools, and several others, suggested many staff, even those who were members of either the NUT or NASUWT - the two unions that called the one-day strike - took the chance of having a day without classes to catch up on some preparation work or outstanding tasks.

There were none of the sort of scenes usually associated with strike action, such as picket lines or groups of striking teachers outside the main gate, at the vast majority of shcools in the region.

Instead, many teachers who were on strike appeared to opt for the uninterrupted day in the office or followed their Union’s advice and went to a major rally in Sheffield.

“There were rallies in Nottingham and Sheffield and we advised our members in the north of the county in places like Worksop and Retford to go to the one in Sheffield as many of the city-based schools were focussed on the one in Nottingham,” said NUT North Notts joint-secretary Liam Conway.

“As for picket lines, we only tend to have them where schools are partially open or closed and in Worksop they were all either officially fully open or officially fully closed so there was no need to have picket lines in place.”