THOUSANDS of pupils will have an extra day off school next week when teachers will leave their classrooms to support strike action.

Scores of rural schools are set to close on Thursday, with secondary schools expected to be hardest hit during the walkout over planned pension changes.

While Dorset County Council yesterday provided a list of schools to shut or partially close, Bournemouth and Poole councils said the decision was being left to individual school governors and head teachers.

Geoff Cooke, Dorset secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said an estimated 1,500 teachers were expected to support the industrial action.

He added: “Virtually all the county’s secondary schools will shut. There is overwhelming support for industrial action, even from some headteachers who are planning industrial action themselves later this year.

“A tiny minority are threatening to bring in agency staff to cover for teachers on strike but this is unlawful.”

He added: “So far I’ve heard back from union reps at 28 schools; in 27 cases the schools are set to close. Some will remain open for sixth formers while special schools are likely to be unaffected because the wellbeing of the children will come first.”

He added: “Some small primary schools may remain open but they will not be functioning as normal. It is expected that about half of Dorset’s 160 primary schools will either shut or be partially closed.

“The majority of our members are coming out on strike. There are 3,300 teachers in Dorset and I expect about 1,500 will support industrial action. It will be impossible to run timetables in secondary schools.”

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) is also supporting the national walkout in protest against proposed changes, which will leave teachers working longer, paying in more and receiving less when they retire.

Phil Jacques, ATL’s Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset secretary, said: “There is enormous support for industrial action; our members are very angry.

“Independent school teachers can’t just walk away and leave boarders but they will be protesting in their own way. We’ve had reports of intimidation from a small number of school governors and a couple of heads have been putting pressure on staff to find out how many are set to strike.”

Sue Pelham, headteacher at Poole’s Canford Heath Middle School has sent letters to parents stating that the school will be closing on Thursday.

She said: “A large proportion of our teachers are union members so there won’t be enough staff to keep the school open.” Canford Heath First School is also set to close.

Gary Clark, deputy headteacher at Twynham school in Christchurch said: “Sixth formers will be coming in but parents of year seven to year 10 pupils have been informed that the school will be closed to them.”

A Bournemouth School for Girls spokeswoman said a decision on whether the school would shut will be taken on Monday and the story is the same at Bournemouth School.

Dorset County Council’s director for children’s services, John Nash, said: “We are encouraging schools to stay open. However, the final decision lies with the headteacher and the chair of governors, taking into account health and safety issues.”

Bournemouth council’s director of children’s strategic services Neil Goddard said: “Responsibility for managing any strike action and informing parents rests with individual schools.”