Region-by-region guide to schools hit by national teachers' strike » Local Government » 24dash.com

At least one in three schools in England and Wales are closed or partially closed today because of the national strike by teachers in a row over pay.

Estimates compiled in conjunction with the Local Government Association show that around 2,000 schools have been forced to close and a similar number are partially shut.

More than half of schools are closed in some areas, but other parts of the country have not been so hard hit, especially where membership of the National Union of Teachers is low.

Natiownide impact of school closures region-by-region:

Denbighshire - 28 closed (43%), 16 partially closed (25%).

Gwynedd - Five closed (4%), three partially closed (2%).

Anglesey - 29 closed (51%), five partially closed (9%).

Conwy - 25 closed (34%), 14 partially closed (19%).

Flintshire - 36 closed (40%), five partially closed (6%).

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council - total schools 77, of which 45 are closed/part closed.

Blackpool Council - 55% either closed or part closed.

Bury Metropolitan Borough Council - total schools 59, of which 34 are closed/part closed.

Bolton MBC - total schools 124, of which 66 are closed/partially closed.

Cumbria County Council - total schools 358, of which 148 are closed/part closed.

Lancashire County Council - total schools 652, of which 86 are closed.

Manchester City Council - total schools 169, of which 117 are closed/part closed.

Oldham Borough Council - total schools 109, of which 65 are closed/part closed.

Rochdale Council - total schools 92, of which 60 are closed/part closed.

Salford City Council - total schools 105, of which 35 are closed/part closed.

Kent - total schools 594, of which 13 are closed and 67 partially closed.

Medway - total schools 81, of which two schools are closed and 23 partially closed.

West Sussex - total schools 296, of which 60 are closed and 15 partially closed.

Brighton & Hove - 44 schools closed, 11 partially closed.

Newcastle - total schools 95, of which 42 are closed and 24 partially closed (69.5% of total).

North Tyneside - total schools 78, of which 20 are closed and 30 partially closed (64% of total).

County Durham - total schools 59, of which none are closed and 15 partially closed (25% of total).

South Tyneside - total schools 71, of which 30 are closed, 19 partially closed (69% of total).

Leeds - 23 closed, 93 partially closed.

Sheffield - 20 closed, 86 partially closed.

Hull - 17 closed, 24 partially closed.

Bradford - 27 closed, 52 partially closed.

Calderdale - 17 closed, five partially closed.

Wakefield - 12 closed, 42 partially closed.

Cornwall - 16 closed, 27 partially closed.

Wandsworth, London - eight schools and one special school closed.

Lambeth, London - 33 closed.

Newham, London - 83 closed or partially closed.

Tower Hamlets, London - 31 closed, 44 partially closed.

Hounslow, London - 24 closed, 30 partially closed.

Havering, London - 19 closed, 42 partially closed.

Camden, London - 25 schools, three special schools and one pupil referral unit closed or partially closed.

Haringey, London - 27 closed, 13 partially closed.

Devon - 41 schools and four special schools closed, 19 partially closed.

Liverpool - 36 closed (18%), 31 partially closed (15%).

Cheshire - 34 closed (10%), 64 partially closed (19%).

Wirral - 48 closed (35%), 39 partially closed (28%).

Warrington - 15 closed (12%), 26 partially closed (30%).

Halton - 31 closed (44%), 17 partially closed (24%).

Knowsley - 28 closed (38%), 31 partially closed (42%).

St Helens - 15 closed (23%), 32 partially closed (49%)

Sefton - 14 closed (13%), none partially closed.

Bath and North East Somerset - 20 schools affected (26% of total).

Somerset - 30 closed/partially closed (11% of total).

Bristol - 45 closed, nine partially closed.

Gloucestershire - 54 schools gave advanced warning of closure.

Hampshire - 17 closed, 23 partially closed (500 open).

Portsmouth - 12 closed, 18 partially closed (38 open).

Southampton - 16 closed, 20 partially closed (45 open).

Isle of Wight - six closed, 12 partially closed (51 open).

Dorset - 20 closed, 13 partially closed (145 open).

Bournemouth - three closed, 11 partially closed (22 open).

Poole - nine closed, eight partially closed (23 open).

Sandwell - 116 closures, 33 partially closed (54% of total).

Walsall - 119 closures, 36 partially closed (53% of total).

Solihull - 82 closures, seven partially closed (34% of total).

Dudley - 112 closures, 37 partially closed (60% of total).

Wolverhampton - 113 closed, 33 partially closed (54% of total).

Birmingham - where there is also a strike by council workers in a separate pay dispute which is causing school closures - 103 closed, 35 partially closed (31% of total).

Shropshire - 167 closed, 14 partially closed (26% of total).

Staffordshire - 27 closed, 52 partially closed (20% of total).

Teachers on a picket line at City Academy School, in Bristol, today insisted they "felt no guilt" after telling hundreds of parents that their children would have to stay at home.

Between 10 and 15 teachers, who were not part of the union, ignored protests at the entrance as the school was partially opened for GCSE students.

But NUT members said that the majority of the school's 150 staff had stayed at home.

Keith George, 45, a science teacher and NUT representative, said: "We have already turned several teachers away. It has been very satisfying that our message appears to be getting through.

"If parents want the best teaching for their children then this strike is essential."

Paulette North, the assistant divisional secretary for the NUT, joined Mr George at the entrance.

She added: "We do not feel guilty at all. In fact we feel that if we do not have these strikes then we will lose even more teachers than we are already."

Ms North said she expected thousands of teachers to join a protest march at Castle Green at noon today.

In Birmingham, more than twenty teachers cheered each new arrival as they picketed outside Hamstead Hall School, a mixed comprehensive in Handsworth Wood.

NUT rep and English teacher David Room, who has worked in education for 10 years, said: "It's important to show the strength of feeling on this issue.

"We want to show the parents that the strike is something that we've been forced into taking.

"We've had three years of pay cuts, the Government wants to give us three more years of pay cuts - it's time to say, 'Enough is enough'."

He added: "Young teachers are leaving the profession in droves, because they can't afford to pay back their student loans or get on the property ladder."

Recently-qualified Nisha Vatish, who is in her first year of teaching languages, said: "I totally understand the reasons behind the strike, especially for young teachers.

"I have got a lot of friends who left the profession because they couldn't afford to stay in it.

"We're not asking for more money than anyone else, we're only asking to go up with inflation."

Languages teacher Maxine Burrows agreed that the financial situation is "particularly difficult" for new teachers.

"Teachers don't do this lightly," she said of the strike.

"I hope the Government and the public will realise the strength of our feelings - and we can find some sort of compromise or resolution to the problem."

At Lawnswood School, in Headingley, Leeds, a handful of teachers stood at the entrance next to a busy main road.

Passing commuters sounded their horns in support of the striking NUT members, who huddled under under umbrellas in the heavy rain.

A couple of the teachers held an official Leeds NUT banner, while others waved placards, with slogans including, '2.45% = pay cut', 'Where's the money Darling?' and 'Hoot to support'.

The comprehensive was closed to its 1,500 pupils today due to a training day but teachers were still expected to work.

Richard Raferty, the NUT representative for the school, said the Government was facing a "recruitment crunch" in the teaching profession with its "boom bust approach" to teacher's pay.

He said: "Today we believe we are drawing attention to this impending crisis, or recruitment crunch, which is due if the Government continues to ignore the situation it is going to find itself in."

Mr Raferty said teacher's pay was not in line with inflation and pointed to increases in the price of food and petrol.

"The figures no longer add up and the teachers are getting increasingly angry about the way they are treated."

He said there were about 23 teachers striking at Lawnswood today and added that they had seen members of different unions across Leeds join the NUT in the last week.

Dennis Gibbons, an officer for the Leeds branch of the NUT, said: "There is a recruitment crisis looming in the teaching profession.

"The Government's own figures tell us that upwards of 50% of trained teachers leave the profession within five years of starting due to pay, work load and pupil behaviour."

Early indications in Liverpool today were that the strike had been far more disruptive than anticipated.

The NUT said just six primary and one secondary, out of a total of 194 schools, were fully opened.

At the city's Cardinal Heenan Catholic High, one of the biggest secondary schools in the north west of England, about ten placard-waving staff were staging a picket outside the main gates.

History teacher Jayne Boden, the school's NUT representative, said parents and members of other unions had been very supportive.

She said: "I think parents realise that the Government hasn't kept its promise to review pay scales and we have been forced into this situation.

"Other unions are in a different position because they signed up to the Government's proposals. But colleagues in other unions have been incredibly supportive of our stand."

Ms Boden denied the strike would cause unnecessary problems for pupils about to take GCSE examinations.

She said: "This strike has been timed to cause minimal difficulty for students."

Martin Goold, secretary of the Suffolk NUT, said: "The central factor is that teacher salaries are beginning to decline against other professions.

"This is what was happening 20 years ago and we're determined not to allow that to happen this time.

"We believe one day's disruption is going to be worthwhile if it helps recruit and retain the right type of person."

In Suffolk, 54 schools were closed and 63 partially closed out of a total of 365.

At least 51 out of 442 schools in Norfolk did not open, with a further 92 partially closed.

In Cambridgeshire, where there are 250 schools, 20 closed and 17 partially closed.

There were 42 closures and 80 partial closures in Essex, which has 574 schools.

Around 300 teachers staged a protest march through Liverpool city centre, chanting "Gordon Brown you've let us down".

The march was joined by members of the Public and Commercial Services union, which represents civil servants and is also in dispute with the Government.

Organiser Julie Lyon-Taylor, a member of the NUT's national executive committee, said: "This strike really is the last resort.

"The fact is that teachers have been held to below-inflation pay rises for three years and if the Government gets its way, our pay will be held down for another three years.

"That is why half of all new teachers leave the profession within three years of starting the job."

She added: "We don't want to be on strike but if we don't take a stand now, classroom standards will suffer."

Following the march to the city's St George's Hall, the teachers applauded for a minute in tribute to Steve Sinnott, the NUT general secretary who died suddenly on April 5.

Mr Sinnott started his teaching career at Liverpool's Halewood Comprehensive.