TEACHERS are planning three more days of strikes at Caerleon Comprehensive School in Newport as a dispute over staff restructuring heats up.

The NASUWT and NEU teachers' unions have organised a meeting in the village tomorrow evening (Wednesday), for union officials to meet parents and discuss the teachers' concerns.

And parents have started an online petition calling for a halt to the restructuring plans, as well as criticising the school's overspend, per-pupil funding, and plans to increase class sizes.

Newport City Council, together with the school's chair of governors and acting headteacher, have urged teachers to reconsider further strike action, citing the impact on pupils.

In a joint statement, they downplayed concerns over funding and class sizes, saying there was little difference between Caerleon Comprehensive and other schools.

But when union members from the school went on strike last month and demonstrated outside Newport council's offices, they complained of a "fundamentally unfair" restructuring of middle management, which would effectively lead to demotions of department heads and be "detrimental to pupils".

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The unions said the restructuring at Caerleon – and at Llanwern High School (where teachers have also taken some strike action this year) – was being done to prepare for the Welsh Government's new Curriculum for Wales, which will be rolled out nationwide in 2022.

Speaking to the South Wales Argus ahead of Wednesday's meeting, a spokeswoman for NASUWT said the restructuring at Caerleon Comprehensive was "premature, misinformed, and actually threatens to undermine the success of the new curriculum, rather than support it".

It was up to each school to decide if the new curriculum would affect staff structures, she added.

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Teachers at Caerleon Comprehensive have also drawn attention to wider financial concerns, citing figures that show 95 per cent of Welsh secondary schools receive more per-pupil funds; and an audit report last year found the school's financial losses were expected to reach £1.6 million by the end of 2020.

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Those worries are central to issues raised in an online petition to Newport council, set up on website Change.org on February 29.

As of 5pm today, nearly 450 people had signed and offered messages of support to the teachers. Many of those who signed said their children were current students at the school.

"Our members in Caerleon are clearly very upset about the plans in place," David Evans, the NEU's Wales secretary, said. "Next week they are planning a series of activities to highlight the problems with the proposals.

"We hope Newport council are able now to make a date quickly to come round the table with us for meaningful discussions."

But in the joint statement released today, Newport council stood firm, saying: "Schools and their governing body are responsible for how their budget is spent and for having appropriate staffing structures. Strike action will not change this position."

On the teachers' concerns, NEU Wales secretary Mr Evans said: "Clearly there are funding strains, which have been passed on through austerity budgets from Westminster.

"But with such huge changes planned for the education system here in Wales, we need [senior teachers'] expertise to implement the planned changes and make the new curriculum as good as it can be."

Teachers on strike at Caerleon Comprehensive plan to take another three days of action next week (March 10-12), including pickets at Goldcroft Common, Caerleon, on Tuesday morning; at the Senedd, Cardiff, at Wednesday lunchtime; and at the Civic Centre, Newport, on Thursday morning.