Darwen teachers vote to strike over 'unruly' pupils (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Darwen teachers vote to strike over 'unruly' pupils

6:57pm Saturday 2nd April 2011 in Darwen By Nafeesa Shan , Reporter

STAFF at Darwen Vale High School are set to strike next week in a row over 'unruly' pupils.

The unions have revealed that staff at the Holden Fold school voted overwhelming to take action following a ballot.

They will now be protesting outside the school on Thursday.

If the strike goes ahead, the school will have to close.

NUT national executive and Blackburn with Darwen representative Simon Jones said: “Things haven’t improved.

"Whilst we have continued to meet with management, there has been no concrete movement.

“We are committed to working with man-agement between now and next week. We may reduce the action from a day to an hour.”

Unions said staff felt the school was ‘out of control’ and they were receiving several complaints each day from teachers.

John Girdley, NAS/UWT national executive and Lancashire representative, said: “We, the teachers, sincerely hope that changes can be implemented as a matter of urgency, by the schools management, in order to allow the staff of the school to continue to deliver the high standard of education which our pupils deserve.”

Darwen Vale headteacher Hilary Torpey, said: “We are still in discussion with the unions and hope that we can address these issues as quickly as possible to avoid any disruption to pupils, the school, and the wider school community.”

In the ballot, around 95per cent of the 31 National Union of Teachers, or NUT, members voted in favour of the strike.

And around 66per cent of the 29 NAS/UWT members also voted to take strike action.