Teachers at The Cathedral School in Llandaff, Cardiff, went on strike last Thursday in a dispute over pay and pensions, and are planning more industrial action this week, Wales Online has reported.

The Cathedral School is a coeducational private day with about 800 pupils from nursery up to age 18.

The striking teachers are members of the NEU Cymru, which stated that its members’ pay and pensions have not increased in line with the state sector.

A school spokesman said it was experiencing a “challenging economic environment” and intends to remain open “for as many pupils as possible on the planned days of industrial action”.

Talks are said to have broken down and the matter has now been referred to the national mediation service Acas.

Emma Forrest, NEU assistant general secretary with responsibility for Wales, said: “Our teacher members have not taken the decision to go on strike lightly. Our members want to be in school, teaching the children and young people, but the situation is unacceptable. Pay and pensions have not increased at The Cathedral School in line with the state sector, which is what our members expect.

“Furthermore, plans to deny access to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme mean that our members will be worse off still. This isn’t acceptable to our members and it shouldn’t be acceptable to the school either.”

In a joint statement Dr Claire Rickard and Megan Dickson, NEU reps at The Cathedral School, said: “We are being forced to choose between a sub-state sector salary now or a sub-state sector pension in the future. As a staff of dedicated teachers, who are committed to providing the best education possible for our pupils, this should not be a choice we have to make.”