Teachers strike over Wrexham school staff changes

The strike action is not expected to affect pupils sitting GSCE exams

Teachers at a Wrexham secondary school are set to stage a three-day strike in a dispute over a staffing restructure.

The row was sparked when they saw adverts for senior roles at Ysgol Bryn Alyn in Gwersyllt which is making some department heads redundant.

Phil Wynn, lead member for education at Wrexham council, said he was "disappointed" by the strike action.

Neil Butler of the NASUWT union said they had no option, accusing the school of a "total lack of care" for staff.

Ysgol Bryn Alyn, which has 700 pupils, is axing a number of head of department roles as part of changes to the national curriculum in Wales.

But teachers voted for strike action after seeing adverts in the Times Educational Supplement for new positions with different titles.

Mr Butler told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the changes were "extremely unusual and totally unsatisfactory".

"There is a total lack of care for staff at the school by inflicting this redundancy and restructuring process at the same time," he said.

Twenty-six teachers will walk out on Tuesday 4 June, although it is understood the strike action will not affect youngsters sitting their GCSE exams.

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Gwenfair Jones, a Plaid Cymru councillor representing Gwersyllt West, said: "The school's in a bad way and this is going to be three days of chaos.

"I'm glad that the pupils sitting their exams are able to go to school, but it's unfair on all the others.

"It's not the teachers' fault, it's the management of the school and it's up to the governing body to try and sort it out."

Councillor Wynn, a member of Wrexham's ruling executive board, said: "While we understand that staff have a legal right to strike action, we are obviously disappointed by NASUWT's decision to pursue this action, and will work with the school to support them during this time."