TEACHERS held their 12th day of strike action at The Village School yesterday in protest at the betrayal of promises to protect pay and working conditions during academy conversion.

A picket line outside the school in Brent was set up after National Education Union (NEU) members unanimously agreed to hold another day of strike action.

NEU officer Hank Roberts said the strike action was successful in closing the school and no pupils were in attendance.  

He said: “It was with big regret that the staff did this. The governors failed to live up to their words and that’s why the action took place.

“It would have been called off the moment the promise was given in writing.

“The point of this is that they intend to try to use the academisation of the school as a way of worsening teachers’ pay and working conditions."

Governors voted at the end of February to take the school in Brent into a multi-academy trust with the nearby Woodfield school, despite large parent and staff opposition.

The Department for Education gave the go ahead earlier this month and staff are now undergoing a process of deciding the details of the transfer.

Staff believe priority is being given to protecting the reputations and financial security of consultants and directors of the trust over their own futures and security.

Brent Labour councillor Jumbo Chan said the school's management decisions were “incredibly disappointing” and “profoundly shameful.”

He said: “I urge the school’s management to not only honour their earlier promises, but to put a pause on the misguided process towards academisation altogether.”