Pupil behaviour was rated as good by Ofsted in an inspection last June Teachers have gone on strike protesting over violence, threats and “poor management” at a Lancashire school.
Staff at Darwen Vale High School in Darwen said they have a lack of backing from management when they confront bad behaviour from pupils.
The teachers formed a picket line outside the 1,100-pupil school during the one-day walkout on Thursday.
Head teacher Hilary Torpey said management was in talks with the unions over how to better support staff.
The unions say pupils’ behaviour includes challenging teachers to fights, pushing and shoving staff, pupils making malicious allegations, constant swearing, and filming lessons on mobiles and threatening to post them online.
There have also been problems with cyber bullying and pornography, it is claimed. And it is alleged that when teachers confiscated pupils’ phones they have then been returned by management, leaving staff “totally undermined”.
“The vast majority of pupils at Darwen Vale behave well and take their education seriously”
Hilary Torpey Head teacher
Members of the National Association of Schoolteachers/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) and the National Union of Teachers (NUT) are on strike.
The dispute is also supported by members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the support staff’s union, Unison.
Parents of children at the school have been told no classes will be held during the walkout.
Avis Gilmore, secretary of Lancashire NUT, said: “There is obviously a problem, it is the last resort for teachers to go on strike.
“It is necessary to make the management understand the problem.”
Head teacher Ms Torpey, who began her first full academic year at the school in September, said she was disappointed with the strike.
“My main priority is around the wellbeing and education of our pupils and the best interests of the school. I want to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum,” she said.
“I am disappointed that the trade unions have chosen to take this action. The vast majority of pupils at Darwen Vale behave well and take their education seriously.
“We are in discussions with the unions and with the staff around how we can best resolve this situation so that staff feel well supported when they do need to deal with behaviour issues.”
In its latest Ofsted inspection in June 2010, Darwen Vale was rated as a good school where pupils’ behaviour was also given a good rating.
Currently, pupils are being taught temporarily at former Holden Fold school buildings, which have a capacity of only 800.
The original Darwen Vale High School is being rebuilt under the Building Schools for the Future programme.
The new £18m school is scheduled to open in September 2012.
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