A VALLEYS secondary school was closed yesterday when 33 members of a teaching union went on strike.

The 850-pupil Pontllanfraith Comprehensive had to close because of the dispute over a new pay and staff structure at the school.

The members of the NASUWT union said they took the action in an attempt to restore the pay of a large number of teachers working there. The union said that an original day of action, planned for March 8, was not carried out, in order to give the school and the local education authority, Caerphilly county borough council, time to reconsider and to provide a way of resolving the dispute.

Yesterday's action could be followed by "continuous action short of strike action" where NASUWT members will refuse to carry out any other duties other than teach their timetabled lessons and complete the planning, preparation and assessment associated with that teaching. And further days of strike action could follow.

Tim Cox, national executive member for the union, said: "The NASUWT members at the school would have much preferred this strike not to have gone ahead. They always have the best interests of the pupils at heart but they have been forced into this action in order to protect themselves and their colleagues."

A statement from the local education authority said it was disappointed the union had persisted with threats to "disrupt" the education of pupils, despite efforts to resolve the issues.

The council spokesman claimed that the planned original strike was abandoned because the union's officers had failed to follow statutory procedures.

"The governing body has held additional meetings to give extra consideration to union demands, but decided eventually to implement the structure that they consider best meets the needs of the school," he added.