SCHOOLS across Welwyn Hatfield and Potters Bar will be closed and partially closed today (Tuesday) as teachers strike in a dispute over pay and working conditions.

Six schools have informed County Hall they will not be open, while 10 more will be partly shut.

Teachers from Hertfordshire will be demonstrating in Cambridge today in national disputes over pay, pensions and working conditions.

Dave Williams, treasurer of the Hertfordshire branch of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) told the Welwyn Hatfield Times: “We don’t want to be on strike, we don’t want to be closing schools, but we don’t feel we have a choice.”

Herts County Council said individual schools are not required to notify officials whether they will be open, and have urged parents to check with their childrens’ teachers.

The two largest teaching unions, the NUT and NASUWT, have confirmed a rolling programme of regional strikes.

So far, the schools that have informed County Hall that they will be shut are:

* All Saints C of E in Datchworth

* Applecroft Primary in Welwyn Garden City

* Mount Grace in Potters Bar

* Onslow St Audrey’s in Hatfield

* Stanborough School in Welwyn Garden City

* Watton-at-Stone Primary and Nursery.

The schools that will partially close are:

* Chancellor’s School in Brookmans Park (years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 closed)

* Commonswood in Welwyn Garden City

* Cuffley Primary School in Cuffley (years 4, 5 and 6 closed)

* De Havilland Primary in Hatfield (KS2 closed)

* Knebworth Primary

* Ladbroke JMI in Potters Bar

* Pope Paul Catholic Primary in Potters Bar (year 5 closed)

* Sir Frederic Osbourne in Welwyn Garden City

* Southfield in Hatfield (EYFS department and KS1 and 2 classed will be closed)

* St Philip Howard Catholic School in Hatfield (classes 6B and 6D closed)

For more details contact the relevant school.

After strikes were announced, councillor Chris Hayward, cabinet member for education, said: “While we recognise that there are strongly held feelings on both sides of this national dispute, strike action in a key public service like this can only be to the detriment of Hertfordshire’s children and their parents.

“We hope that there is a speedy resolution to this dispute in the interests of all concerned.”