HUNDREDS of teachers took to the streets of Dorchester during a day of strike action against changes to their pensions.

Up to 500 protestors marched through the county town yesterday in what has been described as the largest gathering of teachers taking action that Dorset has ever seen.

More than 50 Dorset schools were forced to shut completely because of the demonstration, organised by the National Union of Teachers (NUT), as classrooms across the country were left without a teacher.

The unions say the changes will leave teachers working longer, paying more towards their pensions and getting less when they do retire.

A Dorset County Council spokesman said 56 schools were closed and 35 were partially closed across the county.

Flags reading ‘Education Cuts Never Heal’ and ‘If you want your children taught by monkeys, promise them peanuts’ were waved. ‘Save Our Pensions’ stickers were worn and “What do we want? No cuts! When do we want them? Now!’ was chanted.

Passing traffic beeped in support while teachers both young and old made their way from Dorset County Hall to the Corn Exchange, many of whom walked alongside their children.

At one point, the street from Top O’ Town roundabout to the Corn Exchange was a sea of protestors and more than 100 people had to be turned away once the march reached the Corn Exchange because they couldn’t fit inside.

Dorset NUT leader Geoff Cooke estimated that between 400 and 500 people took part in the demonstration supported by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the University and College Union (UCU).

Mr Cooke, who originally underestimated that around 200 people would turn up for the protest, said this was the largest gathering of teachers taking action that Dorset has ever seen.

He said: “Many of the people taking part had never taken industrial action before. This clearly shows how outraged people are that teachers are being given an additional tax of 3.4 per cent to pay on their contribution. We are being told we will have to wait longer in order to get pensions – up to aged 68 – and when we get it, it will be less.”

He added: “The government has been saying that the current pension scheme is not affordable but that is simply untrue. Speaking on the radio yesterday, cabinet office minister Francis Maude wasn’t able to deny that the teachers pension scheme is affordable.

“There is no problem with the pension scheme, it’s just that the government does not want to pay it.”

For those who were able to gain a seat in the Corn Exchange, speeches were heard from a number of speakers including Dorset branch secretary of the ATL Phil Jacques who helped to organise the march alongside Mr Cooke.

Other speakers included the regional officer for the NUT Wendy Hollingworth, Dorset branch secretary of Unison Pamela Jefferies, Public and Commercial Services Union representative Michael Derbyshire and Association of Teachers and Lecturers representative Ian McCann.

Testimonies were also given by a number of teachers including Lisa Hill, 30, who lives in Dorchester and is a teacher at Holy Trinity School in Weymouth.

She said: “I’m stood here and not in my classroom, doing what I love, for two reasons.

“One, because I value my pension.

“The second is for the children that we care for, nurture and educate who have said to us: ‘Miss, I’d like to be a teacher when I grow up’.”

Picket lines were also set up at the Land Registry offices in Weymouth and outside the town’s Jobcentre at Westwey House.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union took the action in defence of pensions, pay and jobs.

Proposals to double or triple civil service pension contributions come on top of a pay freeze that will see the real value of salaries reduced by up to 10 percent over two years, the PCS claims.