The walkout at Devonshire House

TEACHERS and support staff at a £25,000-a-year fees private school were on strike on Friday with union chiefs warning more action could follow until demands are met.

The National Education Union backed the walkout at Devonshire House Preparatory School after pay rise negotiations with the school’s managers broke down.

Staff have been told that the school respects their right to be in the NEU but that leadership will not recognise any union for collective bargaining over pay.

Banners were unfurled and placards held by around 20 staff in Arkwright Road, in an unusual scene for Hampstead and its famously busy school run.

One striking teacher, who asked to remain anonymous, told the New Journal: “We work hard for our students at Devonshire House. We thought the harder we worked, the more our employer would value us. It’s now obvious this isn’t the case.”

The education group Dukes took over the running of the school two years ago.

The company posted a £230million turnover last year, with a £34million profit.

The incoming Labour government has said it will end a VAT break for private schools that claim charitable status. Despite large numbers of children in Camden attending fee-paying schools, strike action is rare as unions are rarely recognised by the private operators.

Devonshire House has three sites in close proximity to each other in Arkwright Road and Fitzjohn’s Avenue, teaching girls and boys aged two to 13.

The school has around 640 pupils. Fees at the prep school range from £6,832 a term for the nursery, plus a £3,000 deposit, to £8,834 a term for five-year-olds and over. Optional extra fees can be paid for ballet classes, yoga and voice training. Earlier this year the prep school extended its teaching to include Years 7 and 8. The union wants a 9.2 per cent pay rise.

Megan Quinn, NEU Camden Branch Secretary, said “NEU members do not accept the school’s current position of pay awards as low as 2 per cent. No further dates for action have been announced as yet but the school may see more strikes if members’ concerns continue to be ignored.”

Headteacher Henry Keighley-Elstub said the school had been “collaborative and constructive” with the NEU and met on July 1 “for a full day” before negotiations broke down.

He said there had been no changes to current staff’s pension packages and said it had “benchmarked” pay against state and independent schools, adding: “The school continues to focus on providing the highest educational standards for our children and their parents.”