TEACHERS, support staff and teaching assistants marched through Wrexham city centre today as part of national strike action.

Several schools in Wrexham closed or were partially closed today as part of industrial action by NEU union members over pay and funding. 

READ MORE: LIVE: Teachers go on strike across Flintshire and Wrexham today

Dave Brown, a maths teacher in Wrexham and the NEU district secretary for Wrexham joined the picket line outside Ysgol Clywedog. 

He said: "Education is in crisis at the moment."

"We have fallen behind on pay. I have been teaching for a number of decades and when I went into the profession [...] you could afford to buy a house, you could actually afford to pay the bills which is no longer the case."

Geography teacher Nick Brown previously worked in industry before entering the teaching profession and feels that the workload is drastically different. 

He said: "In industry you finish at 5pm and you just go home, whereas here you finish at 5pm and you take 50 books home with you."

Mr Brown added that the workload didn't just cover teaching hours or marking duties: "You have also got the emotional workload, you have pupils that have come from a disadvantaged home, pupils that need more support that come in and require that kind of second parent."

Clywedog staff stood at the picket line from 7.30am to 9.30 am before heading to Bellevue Park where they were joined by teaching staff from across the region and other striking unions.

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The NEU members, joined by members of the Public and Commercial Services Union and Unison, then marched through Bellevue Park to Island Green and through the city centre before gathering in Queen's Square. 

Union, government and staff representatives then took turns speaking to the crowd. 

Coedpoeth Councillor Anthony Wedlake, Chair of the Clwyd South Labour party, shared his support for the strike action. 

He said: "We stand here in solidarity to defend our service and defend the terms and conditions on which we work and we work hard every day.

"I also understand as a chair of governors for Penygelli school, I see the unpaid hours that you work, the stress and strains of retaining great people and losing them because of those pay and conditions you work in."

Queensway Councillor Carrie Harper, representing Plaid, also shared a message of solidarity for the striking action.

She said: "It is vital that we stand up for the values that matter, because it is the battles that we win and lose now that will shape our communities for the next generation."

The general overwhelming sentiment at the rally was one of frustration and this came from teachers themselves as well as on behalf of support staff and teaching assistants. 

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Primary school teacher Jess Edwards, NEU representative for Victoria primary school said: "We are not just striking for teachers today, we are also striking for teaching assistants."

She continued: "The pressures that they are enduring for a disgusting amount of money."

Mrs Edwards shared her predictions with the crowd that in five years time there would be no teaching assistants due to the poor conditions of the job, she said: "They are working just as hard as us and they are not getting paid what they deserve."

Dan Jones, a teacher at Darland High School, said: "I saw a banner at the nurses strike that said 'Pay us like your life depends on it' well I think they need to pay teachers like the future depends on it."

Several children and families came along to the event to support the strike. Lydia Evans a student at St Giles school held a banner which said "Invest in my future, invest in my teachers."

Lydia felt that her teachers should be paid more, she added: "They work so hard to teach us new things and help us."

However, other parents shared their frustration over the striking action. 

An anonymous parent of children who attend schools in Wrexham said: "It's frustrating - only one teacher is on strike but they haven’t allowed my daughter to go in.

"I work in a hospital so I do understand the strikes and why people are striking but it is really frustrating for parents. Especially being midweek and her brother is in but she’s at home."

Vicky Fowley a teacher from Flintshire, who brought her daughter Sarah Fowley along to the march felt the striking action was necessary. 

She said: "I am not concerned about her missing one day. I am concerned however about the lack of funding in schools. Schools shouldn't have to use their money to increase teachers pay, it should be fully funded by government."