TWO more days of teachers' strikes this week will close Newport's Llanwern High School to all pupils.

Strikes are planned for Tuesday, January 28, and Thursday, January 30, and the school will be closed on both days.

Teachers belonging to the NASUWT trade union are taking industrial action in response to a proposed restructuring of the school, which they have called "unnecessary".

The first of three planned days of strikes took place last week on Thursday, January 16.

In a letter to parents, Llanwern High's headteacher Tracey Jarvis said she had hoped to keep the school open for Year 11 pupils during the two strike days next week, but this was not possible.

She said more teachers at the school had since joined NASUWT, leaving Llanwern High with fewer teachers than had been available on January 16.

Staff members not striking were not obliged to cover for their colleagues, Mrs Jarvis explained.

Apologising to parents for the inconvenience, she added: "Regrettably, this leaves me with very little option other than to close to all pupils next week on both days earmarked for industrial action."

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In her letter, Mrs Jarvis said all NASUWT members at Llanwern High had agreed to the strike days when the union balloted them on the proposed restructuring.

In a statement released ahead of the January 16 strikes, a Newport City Council spokeswoman said the restructuring could cut two teaching jobs at the school due to compulsory redundancies.

She said the council would try to mitigate this by "seeking redeployment opportunities".

But Chris Keates, the acting general secretary of NASUWT, said at the time that any redundancies were avoidable.

“We have made every effort to work with the employer to try to resolve this dispute and we regret any disruption to pupils or parents, but members cannot stand by while their jobs are being placed in jeopardy," she said at the time.

Around 900 pupils attend Llanwern High School. In November it was judged to have made "sufficient progress" on recommendations made at its most recent Estyn inspection, and was removed from the inspectors' list of schools in Wales requiring significant improvement.