THE National Education Union has confirmed that strike action at The Grange school will not go ahead as planned.

Earlier this week, governors at the £9,600 a year private school in Hartford backtracked on proposals to take staff out of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and move them to a Direct Benefits Scheme, which would cost the school less.

They said that this was due to the consultation causing ‘significant disruption’ to the school, in particular to students who ‘deserve the full attention’ of their teachers in the classroom.

The move has been met positively by union representatives, who praised teachers and union members for their ‘great determination and resolve’ during the process.

Peter Middleman, north west regional secretary at the NEU, said: “We are pleased to report that The Grange School’s legal advisers wrote to us to confirm that the proposal to undermine access to the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme has been withdrawn.

“This corroborates the message which was apparently sent to staff by the Chair of Governors at the end of last week and represents a satisfactory resolution to the established trade dispute.

“Accordingly, the relevant NEU executive sub-committee have confirmed that the notice issued has been rescinded and the industrial action scheduled to begin on Tuesday, February 25 will now not take place.

“Members have demonstrated great determination and resolve in securing this concession which avoids the Government’s unnecessary higher employer’s contributions being passed directly on to employees.

“We are conscious that emotions within the school will have been heightened since mid-November, but the legitimacy of our position has never been in doubt and the employer’s recognition of that is to be welcomed.

“We now intend to enter in to dialogue with Governors to establish a formal mechanism which can consider the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by means of collective agreements and thereby help avoid similar problems developing in the future.”