More than half of schools were either totally or partially closed today during teacher strikes, government data shows.
Secondary schools were much more heavily impacted, compared to special and primary schools, the Department for Education’s attendance data reveals.
Of those where the school’s status was known, 54 per cent – about 8,400 schools – were estimated to be closed or partially closed.
Broken down, 9.3 per cent were closed and a further 44.7 per cent were open but restricting attendance. Another 45.9 per cent were fully open.
A regional breakdown released later by DfE showed London was worst hit, with just 17 per cent of schools fully open, compared to 62 per cent in the East Midlands.
Nearly one in four of the capital’s schools were closed.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said she was “very grateful” to headteachers “for all their work to keep our schools open and to minimise the impact of today’s strike action”.
“One school closure is too many, and it remains deeply disappointing that the NEU proceeded with this disruptive action – but many teachers, head teachers and support staff have shown that children’s education and wellbeing must always come first.
By school type, 82.6 per cent of secondaries were closed or partially, compared to 71.2 per cent of special schools and 47.8 per cent of primaries.
Broken down further for secondary schools, 17.4 per cent were fully open, 73.6 per cent open but restricting attendance and 9 per cent closed.
At primary level, 52.1 per cent were open, 38.7 per cent partially open and 9.1 per cent closed.
Finally for special schools, 28.8 per cent were open, 57.7 per cent partially and 13.5 per cent closed.
Education secretary ‘put on notice’
In total, 77 per cent of primary, secondary and special schools nationwide submitted attendance figures to the DfE by 2pm today.
Meanwhile, data from school management information system Arbor Education showed nearly 40 per cent of pupils missed school today. If extrapolated nationwide, it equated to 3.2 million pupils.
In a statement, joint National Education Union general secretary’s Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said one day’s disruption is “is dwarfed by the long-term damage caused by government policy on education funding, on workload, and on pay”.
“Today, we put the education secretary on notice. She has until our next strike day for England, 28 February, to change her stance. NEU members do not want to go on strike again.”
Keegan added: “Conversations with unions are ongoing and I will be continuing discussions around pay, workload, recruitment and retention, and more.”
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