A teacher at a special educational needs provision in the west end of Newcastle has said 19 members of its staff are taking strike action after thirteen years of government underfunding has left them relying on charity or to fork out themselves for learning resources.
Hadrian School, which caters for the needs of pupils aged between two and eleven years with a range of additional needs including complex, severe learning difficulties and profound and multiple learning difficulties, will close today (Wednesday February 1) for the first of four strike days, if an agreement is not reached with Government.
19 of the school's teaching staff are members of the National Education Union (NEU), which is taking strike action for seven days across the UK, though each school involved will only be affected by four. The NEU's members voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action "as a result of failure by the Secretary of State in England and the employers in Wales to ensure enough money is available to pay a fully-funded increase in pay for teachers which at least matches inflation, and which begins to restore lost pay."
