Hackney teachers broke their strike rather than a promise to kids

There was a fairytale ending for heartbroken youngsters who thought they’d miss their school trip to the pantomime because their teachers were due to be on strike on Wednesday.

Staff at Morningside Primary School decided to play fairy godmothers and crossed the picket line so they could take their pupils to the Hackney Empire to watch Cinderella, which had been arranged for weeks.

“We didn’t want to be the bad guys,” said year six teacher David Martin.

But he and his colleagues at the school in Chatham Place, South Hackney, supported the strike so they refused to teach any lessons and each of them donated their day’s pay to the National Union of Teachers hardship fund.

“Sadly, the children did miss out on learning that day,” Mr Martin said, “but we decided many of them probably wouldn’t go to the panto with their families and we thought it was wrong to take the opportunity away from them.

“We felt we made our point by supporting the strike, but at the same time we’re 100 per cent behind our children.

“I think some of the older students understood what was going on and they were very grateful. They thought the panto was amazing and they were all smiling when they came out.”