"The 70-plus teachers at Darwen Vale high school in Lancashire, who stopped work on Thursday and picketed the building, were insistent therefore that they were not striking against their pupils, who were described even by a local NUT official on the picketline as "no better or no worse" than any others, but against the school's management, including its recently appointed head, Hilary Torpey, whom they said were not giving them the necessary support."