TEACHERS walked out again in the fifth strike day in the dispute over pay and conditions.

Teachers across England went out on strike yesterday leaving a number of schools closed or partially closed including Honywood School in Coggeshall, John Bunyan Primary and Nursery School in Braintree and New Rickstones Academy in Witham Following strikes.

In February, the Government offered a £1,000 one-off payment and an average 4.3 per cent pay rise for most staff from September, which the Department for Education described as a “fair and reasonable offer”.

Starting salaries would also rise to £30,000 from September.

But members of the National Education Union rejected the offer and in Colchester, there were picket lines outside Colchester Royal Grammar School and the Gilberd School as well as a rally outside Castle Park.

Natalie Forster who teaches history at New Rickstones Academy, was at the rally.

Braintree and Witham Times: PAY UP: Witham teacher Natalie at the rally in ColchesterPAY UP: Witham teacher Natalie at the rally in Colchester (Image: Newsquest)

She said: "I'm here because I would like our schools to be better funded.

"The offer isn't a funded offer by the Government, the offer will come out of the funding which was given to children in schools for textbooks, resources, science experiments.

"The offer isn't directly money to us but coming out of the students' funding."

She continued: "I think all the teachers I know who are striking are really feeling the pinch, and striking is something I'd rather not be doing.

"I don't want people to think I'm hard done by. I'm definitely able to sustain myself and my family.

"But like everybody, mortgage rates have gone up, gas bills gone up, electricity bills have gone up, so I wouldn't choose unless I really had to, to take an extra two days unpaid off work."

Cabinet minister and Braintree MP James Cleverly said a “good offer” had been made to teachers over pay and workload reduction.

He added: “Many students have had a disrupted last couple of years because of Covid and I think everything we can do to help them start their lives better through education is important.”