TEACHERS at Darwen Vale High School are striking today.

The one-day strike comes after members of the National Union of Teachers and National Association of Schoolmasters and Women Teachers voted to take action.

The unions are opposing Department for Education plans to turn the last community high school in Darwen into an academy.

Members of staff at the school were told earlier in the year that they were facing up to 25 compulsory redundancies prior to the take-over.

Simon Jones for the NUT, said: “Strike action is a last resort. Despite the best efforts of the unions, council, there has been no meaningful engagement with us.”