A ROW over teacher redundancies and proposed funding cuts in Wales came to a head this morning when some staff at a Valleys school went on strike.

Oakdale Comprehensive School was picketed today by members of the teaching union NASUWT after it was decided to take strike action.

Twenty-eight teachers were not attending classes today but the school will remain open. About 650 pupils were attending today.

Head teacher Ian Jones, who takes early retirement when the school term ends next week, said the strike was caused by certain teachers and NASUWT who are seeking confrontation.

He said: "I think that the school is troubled because of the behaviour for some people who for whatever motive want it to be troubled.

"This includes the teachers. And I have a problem with the NASUWT who are seeking confrontation.

"When they have raised issues with me I have invited them to take up a grievance procedure but they have never taken it up. I think there is a message there.

"Everyone should focus on the fact that the school is for the children and it's the centre of the community and the strike can only do damage to both."

Mr Jones said he thought the issues raised by the NASUWT about the redundancies had been successfully resolved.

He said the school - whose past pupils include the Manic Street Preachers - would have been closed if he had received earlier notice of the strike.

Some members of the NASUWT have crossed the picket line and some are believed to have resigned from their union.

Jayne Jones, head of English and the NASUWT representative at the school who was on the picket line this morning, said: "We feel we are doing this for the good of the school after having lost the equivalent of 11 members of staff."

She said that union members were also unhappy with proposed cuts in the schools' budget. "The staff care totally about the community and want to protect the interests of the pupils.

"It is not the staff who want to make trouble because they have got the best interests of the school at heart."