Strike action planned at Shrewsbury High School

Staff at Shrewsbury High School who are members of the National Education Union will join others from across the country in strike action on Thursday.

More than 1,500 members of staff at Girls' Day School Trust's 23 independent schools will form a picket line and rally in protest at what they say are proposals to slash their pensions.

Six days of strike action have been planned at schools all over the country from London to Nottingham over plans to remove teaching staff from the nationally-run Teacher Pension Scheme.

An NEU spokesman said: "If this were to go ahead, teachers will be at least 20 per cent worse off on average in terms of the annual amount they receive in pension payments.

"The trust has been unable and unwilling to demonstrate any financial imperative for this decision. What is in the public domain shows trust finances to be in good health."

Shrewsbury High School, based at Town Walls, charges up to £5,000 a term for education and teaches girls aged from four to 18.

Strike action is also planned for February 24 and three dates in March.

A spokesman for the Girls' Day School Trust said: “Sadly, the increase to the TPS employer costs (Teachers’ Pension Scheme) has had a severe impact on our expenditure and has put us in a very difficult position. We understand the strength of feeling amongst our teachers over this issue and of course the concerns raised by our parents.

"We care deeply about our teachers and would not have put forward these proposals unless we felt they were absolutely necessary to support the long-term sustainability of the GDST family of schools, enabling us to continue to provide an excellent and affordable independent education for our students, and at the same time ensuring teachers have a comfortable retirement."

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, said that the GDST had “no justification in its plan to slash the pensions of its teaching staff”.

“Teachers always take strike action with a heavy heart, which is why this extraordinary mandate should give the Trust pause,” he added.

“Members are angry and determined to defend what is rightfully theirs.

“These are committed and hard-working staff who have been pushed to the point of taking action, the like of which the Girls’ Day School Trust has never seen.

“Teachers’ strength of feeling is unwavering.”

The walkout is the first strike in the trust’s 149-year history.