Dundee and Fife secondary schools to close to all or most pupils for next Thursday’s teacher strike

Secondary schools in Dundee will open to senior pupils only and all Fife secondary schools will shut when teachers strike again next week.

Dundee City Council has confirmed that only S5 and S6 pupils – and some S4 pupils – should attend school on Thursday, December 8.

Fife Council has confirmed all its secondary schools will close for the day.

Primary schools – including nurseries – and early learning and childcare centres will open as normal.

Kingspark School and Rockwell Learning Centre, in Dundee, will remain open but secondary pupil support centres in Fife will also shut on December 8.

Industrial action is being taken by the NASUWT Scotland and SSTA teaching unions.

It follows a strike by the EIS union which closed all schools last Thursday.

A Dundee City council spokesperson said: “Due to planned national industrial action on Thursday December 8 by both SSTA and NASUWT unions, Dundee secondary schools will be open only to S5 and S6 pupils that day.

We’ll update parents immediately if the dispute is resolved and plans change.”

Shelagh McLean, Fife Council

“Individual secondary schools may have some S4 pupils attending where staffing allows.

“Direct contact will be made with families about details.”

Fife Council said it was unlikely it would be able run schools safely without sufficient staff.

Shelagh McLean, head of education and children’s services, said: “To help families plan, we’ve made the difficult decision to close all Fife [secondary] schools on Thursday, December 8.

“We’ll update parents immediately if the dispute is resolved and plans change.”

Secondary schools in Dundee and Fife will be open to all pupils on Friday, December 9.

Why are teachers going on strike?

Like the EIS, NASUWT and SSTA want a 10 per cent pay rise for all teaches, instead of a deal aimed at boosting the wages of lower-paid staff.

The latest pay offer would have seen an increase of between 5 per cent and 6.85 per cent for teachers.

But the offer has been rejected by the unions.

What are other councils saying about the impact on schools?

On Thursday Perth and Kinross Council confirmed all secondary schools – with the exception of Pitlochry High School – would be shut for S1-S4 pupils.

Angus Council said it will confirm details of how secondary schools will be affected early next week.

But it said primary schools will remain open.

Some schools have started running prelim exams which could be affected by next week’s strike action.