THOUSANDS of pupils across the district have been told not to go to school this Thursday amid large scale industrial action.

Teachers’ unions have called the national day of action following a dispute over pension schemes for their members.

Many primary and secondary schools in South Gloucestershire and Gloucestershire have already announced they will close on Thursday, June 30 as they will not have enough staff to teach and look after pupils.

Secondary schools that have confirmed they will shut include Castle School in Thornbury and Katherine Lady Berkeley in Wotton-under-Edge.

NUT representative at Castle, Colin Watson, said: "The government’s proposals are grossly unfair.

"They will be an incentive to senior teachers to leave the profession early. They will adversely affect recruitment into the profession. They will lead to teacher shortages and make staff turnover more likely. The viability of the teaching profession will be eroded and the standard of educational provision in schools will inevitably be lowered; as such it will be pupils who ultimately will suffer.

"We are striking to protect the long-term future of our pupils and hope that they and their parents will support us, despite the regrettable inconvenience that the day’s action may cause them."

KLB headteacher Andrew Harris said: "At this school, most members of the unions involved will be taking part in this action. This will mean that over 30 teaching staff will not be available for work on June 30.

"This level of absence, together with the constraints on the members of other unions during industrial action, will mean that even though Years 11 and 13 are not attending school at this end of the summer term, it will not be possible to provide effective supervision of the pupils who would normally be in school on that day."

Brimsham Green School in Yate and Rednock School in Dursley will close to Years 7,8 and 9 but will remain open to Years 10 and 12, with Year 11 pupils already on study leave.

Chipping Sodbury School will remain open to all pupil, as will Yate and Winterbourne international academies which are both holding pre-arranged inset days.

Primary schools which have confirmed closure on Thursday are North Nibley Primary School, Hillesley Primary School, St John’s Mead Primary School in Chipping Sodbury and Charfield Primary School. Kingswood Primary School will remain open with just one class, the Oak class, closed for the day.

All the above closures are dependent upon strike action going ahead. If talks between the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers are successful, all strike action could be cancelled.