Teachers have defended today's industrial action which has left hundreds of pupils in Crawley facing disrupted lessons.

National Union of Teachers members in the borough are striking over the "inadequate" allowance offered to teachers on the outskirts of London.

Thomas Bennett Community College, Tilgate, was closed to its 1,400 pupils and a number of other schools were affected.

Head teacher Yasmin Maskatiya said: "It was a big decision to shut the school but in the interests of making things as clear as possible for parents, teachers and students, we decided to close for the day.

"The NUT members felt very strongly about the issue. We find it very difficult to find staff to teach maths and science. That is a problem across the whole country, certainly West Sussex."

She said she hoped this would be a one-off strike to avoid further disruption to pupils.

Alan Beeston, the NUT's regional principal officer, said the strike would not be spread to the rest of Sussex.

However, he said he hoped it would draw attention to low wages and staff shortages across the South East.

Mr Beeston, who also teaches at Bewbush Middle School, said: "Teachers living in Crawley get paid an allowance of £765 per year on top of their salary. That is to pay for the extra costs of living on the London fringe.

"This in no way compensates for them for the house prices in the areas they want to live. A teacher's salary is so small that they could not get a mortgage."

Mr Beeston said a teacher with five years' experience could expect to earn £21,000 per year in Crawley, even with the extra allowance.

He said: "That is not enough. It is not allowing us to recruit the type of teachers we want to get.

"When I came to Crawley 35 years ago there was housing being built for teachers to attract people to the new town.

"Some of my colleagues have since bought their houses and got a good deal. But there is nothing like that now."

The Government is proposing to increase the fringe allowance by 3.5 per cent to £792. Mr Beeston said this would work out at 50p per week.

He said: "My council tax is going up by ten per cent - this wouldn't even pay for the increase in my council tax."

Crawley teachers were taking action this morning at the Bewbush youth club and others were joining a lobby outside Parliament.