A secondary school was closed yesterday after teachers went on strike in a row over redundancies.

Teachers at Islington Arts and Media School (IAMS) in Turle Road, Finsbury Park, staged a walk out in protest to the school’s decision to axe four teaching jobs at the end of term.

Thirty teachers formed a picket at the school gates – but arrangements were made for exams to go on as normal.

Ken Muller, assistant secretary of the Islington branch of the National Union of Teachers, said: “IAMS teachers and students were not responsible for either the school’s past financial ineptitude or an economic crisis caused by greedy bankers. Why should they be made to pay the cost?

“NUT members at IAMS are willing to discuss alternative ways of resolving the school’s budgetary problems, but not ones which involve their colleagues being forced to join the dole queue.”

According to the NUT, the school claims the job losses are necessary because of financial mismanagement, government spending cuts and falling enrolment.

The union said further action is likely over the coming weeks if the redundancies are not withdrawn.