TEACHERS and support staff are to strike over the decision to convert a primary school in Lancashire into an academy.

More than 40 members of the National Education Union (NEU) at the crisis-ridden St Matthew’s Church of England Primary School in Preston will begin the first of five days of action against the school being handed over permanently to a private company. 

The passing of the school to the Cidari academy trust, which is linked to the Diocese of Blackburn, undermines local democracy and threatens staff terms and conditions, the NEU has said.