Regent High School  joined dozens of Camden schools on strike today

TEACHERS, parents, pupils and union leaders united for a packed rally today to protest against the “killing” of public education.

This morning, teachers waving flags and banners formed picket lines outside schools for the third time in Camden, striking against years of government underfunding, real-terms pay cuts and teacher wages coming out of school budgets.

Along with Barnet’s National Education Union (NEU) members, teachers then went to Cecil Sharp House in Regents Park Road for a rally.

The picket line at Parliament Hill School this morning 

Addressing the audience,  John Hayes, headteacher of Gospel Oak Primary and executive head of Netley Campus, said in his 39 years of teaching it has “never been more difficult or more stressful” than it is now.

“Largely because of the pressure of budgets, I’m now also the executive head of Netley Campus. Much of that has been pushed by the need to ensure at Gospel Oak I was able to balance the budget. So now I’m pretty much part-time in both schools, not something that at this point in my career I would need to do for just financial reasons. But this is something we’re all going to have to get used to,” he said.

He added: “State education in this country right now is broken. It has been broken by 13 years of Tory government.”

John Hayes has had to take on another job to balance the budget at Gospel Oak Primary School

Mr Hayes said Gospel Oak Primary’s gas bill has gone up by 219 percent and in the last few years they’ve lost eight members of staff. He commutes from Stevenage, Hertfordshire, every day as he, along with many other teachers, can’t afford to live in Camden.

He told the New Journal: “Much as this is about pay, it’s really about state education because what’s damaging state education is the government’s disinterest. Despite what they say about highest funding ever, our costs are ludicrously above that.

“The most significant damage is being done to children with special needs, where we need to be going above and beyond for them to provide a bespoke curriculum in an environment that suits them. SEN in Camden is full and the children are still coming through and they’re being placed in settings that aren’t suitable. And it’s no one’s fault other than the government’s. The amount of stress and heartache that that’s causing my staff now is really shocking.”

Mr Hayes added: “Much as this is about pay, it’s really about state education because what’s damaging state education is the governments’s disinterest. Despite what they say about highest funding ever, our costs are ludicrously above that.”

Parents and their children who attend Gospel Oak Primary turned out to support Mr Hayes with a painted sign that reads “I love my teacher”

Clare Flaxen, parent and Gospel Oak Primary governor, told the New Journal: “I’m blown away every year by all the additional opportunities my child gets. She doesn’t just get a basic education, she gets an incredible education.

“And I’m here today to support them as they deserve much fairer pay and the impact this is having on them on their wellbeing, stress levels, burnout rates… the pressure they are under is not acceptable. I’m going to get a bigger group of parents to come next time. I want the teachers to know we support them because we absolutely love them.”

A teacher from Tudor Primary School in Finchley dressed up as the Cat in the Hat 

Hampstead School teacher and Brent Councillor Jumbo Chan said: “By offering teachers such paltry amounts, what the government is really saying is this is what they think public education is worth.

“The government’s suggestion that any pay rise should come out of the school budget is simply a grotesque suggestion which I don’t think we should entertain.”

NEU leader Louise Atkinson, Tufnell Park parent and leader of Rescue Our Schools Madeleine Holt, and Andrew Dyer from Camden’s NEU also spoke at the rally.

Lots of people attended the rally

Katie Bourn, maths teacher at La Sainte Union school in Highgate, said: “I’ve been teaching for more than 20 years now, so I’ve seen the effect of squeezed school budgets and what that’s meant for the quality of education and the stress levels amongst staff. It’s got to a point where we feel like we have to do something and that’s why I’m here.”

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan says the government has agreed to provide an extra £2bn in school funding, which will take real-terms spending “to its highest level in history”.