THE nationwide teachers' strike will affect local schools today (Thursday) with some completely closed, while others will stay partially open where possible.

The strike action was confirmed to be going ahead on Monday, following the Government and NUT's failure to come to an agreement regarding teachers' pensions.

Andy Woolley, South West regional secretary of the NUT, said: 'The Government has done nothing more today other than confirm it has no intention of listening to teachers.

'They are simply imposing draconian changes that will see teachers paying more, working longer and getting less with no evidence to back up these claims.

'The action on Thursday is unavoidable and unless the Government starts listening rather than simply imposing its will, it leaves us with little choice other than to consider further action.'

Okehampton College is closing completely for the day. The closure will not affect student exams, with the exam season over for the year.

Principal Darryl Chapman said: 'Obviously it's a national decision by the two big unions, the NUT and the ATL, having balloted their members, to go forward with the strike action.

'A high percentage of our staff are in these unions. We considered for a long time whether we could function efficiently as a school without these staff and more importantly, ensure the health and safety of our students at the college.

'We think it is in the best interest of the students to close down the college for the day seeing as we wouldn't be able to provide an appropriate educational experience on the day, as well as the issues with health and safety.

'Staff are sorry it's come to this as the needs of our students are always at the forefront of their minds. But they also feel strongly that teachers are being railroaded into a difficult path.

'The college's sixth form area will be open to sixth formers who wish to come in and study and use our facilities.'

Okehampton Primary School has seven classes closing, with certain classes in Year 2, Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5 closing for the day. All nursery, reception, Year 1 and Year 6 classes will be unaffected.

Chagford Primary School will also be closing completely for the day, with no classes running.

North Tawton Primary, South Tawton Primary, Hatherleigh Primary School and Winkleigh Primary School will all remain open as normal, with no classes affected by the strikes.

To help parents cope with the strike, Parklands Leisure Centre have encouraged parents to bring their children to the swimming pool with under 8s going for free.

Tara Stroud, head of swimming and children's activites at the centre said: 'Although it's unfortunate that many schools will be closed on Thursday, we wanted to give parents the opportunity to take their children swimming free of charge in a bid to take advantage of a day off work.'