PARENTS at a strike hit secondary school have demanded a public meeting.

Teachers at Brecon High School have staged six one day strikes over the past month in protest at the decision to axe two teachers through compulsory redundancy.

A parents action group had presented headteacher Ingrid Gallagher with a letter and 305 signature petition calling for a public meeting at the school to debate the redundancies and the school's projected £600,000 budget deficit.

Kate Hennighan, a mother of two pupils at the school, who helped collect signatures for the petition said: "We're asking for a public meeting with all the parties concerned so we can discuss in a grown up fashion all of the current issues."

Councillor David Meredith, the vice chair of the 800 pupil school's governing body, said a meeting may be arranged to coincide with a public meeting at the school on Thursday, May 5 to discuss Powys County Council's schools modernisation proposals.

Since March 17, 28 members of teaching union the NASUWT have staged six one day strikes at the school, which has a total teaching staff of 45. Members of the NUT union at the school also joined the strike on Thursday, April 7 - the third consecutive day NASUWT members had been out.

The school has previously said it has more teachers than it needs and that it had reduced staff over the last three years to reduce its deficit while avoiding compulsory redundancies.

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Read the full story in this week's Brecon & Radnor Express - Out now!