"She can afford a ten grand Rolex, we want to pay the bills" - Hundreds march on Sussex in school strikes

Starting at 11.30am, protesters marched through the streets of Chichester, the constituency of Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, to make their voices heard.

Shop owners clapped from outside their businesses and cars beeped their horns in solidarity as the protestors, who came from all across the county, made their way through the city.

Stopping at the Market Cross, the leader spoke to the marchers as well as residents.

He said: “Join us, talk to Gillian. Tell her to fund our schools.

"She can afford a ten grand Rolex, we can’t and we don’t want to be able to, we just want to be able to pay the bills and keep teachers in front of classes.”

Cries of ‘Come on Gill, pay the bill’ and ‘oh Rishi, you’re so tight, you’re so tight, that’s why we strike, hey Rishi’ echoed throughout, as well as calls to the government for change, as the march preceded through Chichester.

The marchers also made sure to stop by Mrs Keegan’s office where protestors called for her to make an appearance with “don’t be shy Gill, we know you’re in there.”

Members of the National Education Union (NEU) voted to take strike action on seven days across England and Wales in a bid to raise awareness of what they say is a lack of funding in schools, which is having an adverse impact on children, as well as expressing concerns about teachers’ pay.

A despite over pay is the catalyst for the industrial action with NEU members wanting a pay rise of 12 per cent, but the government offering a pay rise of just five per cent. The union says that teachers’ pay has fallen by 24 per cent since 2010 due to inflation and that government funding is not being provided to fully fund pay rises. The union is said to be considering a pay rise of nine per cent if the Government fully funds it. The unions are also using the strikes to raise awareness of what they say is underfunding in schools as a result of funding not keeping in line with raising costs. This means schools are having to make cuts to balance the books.

So far, the Government has reportedly proposed a three per cent pay rise over this year and next, however the NEU have said this is not enough. The Department for Education wanted the strikes to be called off and instead have "formal talks on pay, conditions and reform", however the NEU were only willing to pause the strikes if "good progress" was made first.

Thousands of schools throughout the country were closed or partially closed on Wednesday, March 1 as staff in England and Wales took to the picket lines over pay and conditions, while teachers in Scotland have staged a series of regional strikes that have affected schools since the start of the year.