Teachers strike over merger

Teachers at a community school threatened with a merger with a religious school are to stage a one-day strike today in protest.

Members of the National Union of Teachers at Village Infants School in Dagenham are angry about proposals to amalgamate it with William Ford Church of England Junior School.

Teacher Yolande Cattle said she and her colleagues had not taken the decision lightly. "We don't want to disrupt the pupils or their families but we feel this may be the only way for the council to listen to us."