Union members working at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Tring, Hertfordshire have voted to strike in the autumn, Hemel Today has reported.

Tring Park School is an independent co-educational day and boarding school.

The unions claimed at least 24 teachers have been hired and rehired by the school.

The National Education Union and the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, called a contract offer by the school “detrimental”. A union spokesperson added that the practice of firing and rehiring staff is a “discredited tactic”.

A spokesperson for the school said the decision to hire and rehire staff was taken after comprehensive consultation, with the decision being taken as a last resort. The spokesperson added: “Teachers were asked to agree to a variation in their current contract necessary to implement these changes, and 73% of the affected staff agreed. Regrettably, a number of teaching staff were unwilling to accept the board’s decision and, as a last resort, the school reluctantly had to take the difficult step of serving notice to terminate their existing contracts and offer immediate re-employment. However, all members of staff who were served notice have now accepted the offer of immediate re-employment and we are pleased that the staff concerned have chosen to continue their careers at the school on the revised terms.”

The school also clarified its position with regards to the Teachers Pension Scheme: “It is important to highlight that, unlike many schools, we were not proposing to remove the TPS as a benefit for existing eligible staff or to reduce the cost of the 23.68% employer contribution rate applicable prior to the April 2024 increase.

“We fully understand the value that many of our staff place in the TPS, and therefore wish to retain the ability for current staff to remain in the TPS, if they wish to do so. We therefore proposed that a hybrid pensions option be introduced for our teachers which means that the school would both remain in the TPS and introduce a new defined contribution pension scheme to run alongside it.”