A TEACHING union is promising "action at the highest level" over claims staff at one of Bexley's largest schools are being bullied.

Two separate reports on Cleeve Park School, Bexley Lane, Sidcup, have confirmed a culture of long hours, lack of consultation, heavy workloads and lack of care for the wellbeing of staff at the school.

In one survey, conducted anonymously online for the London Wellbeing Programme, staff indicated substantial concern about bullying, harassment and victimisation.

But News Shopper can reveal an independent second report on the school also confirmed staff claims about workplace bullying.

Jim Hughes, secretary of Bexley National Association of Teachers and Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), says all the evidence collected in the two reports about working practices at Cleeve Park has been passed to the union's acting general secretary, Chris Keates, for action.

He said: "We cannot stand idly by with two reports indicating things are not right.

"We have brought this up in public and in private over a number of months."

The survey of Cleeve Park staff, carried out for the London Wellbeing Project in May, indicated staff morale as the school is low and they constantly feel under pressure.

A report on the survey results concluded teachers feel their situation is worse than a year ago and worse than for colleagues in other schools.

They feel the quality of their working life is poor and although they support each other, they do not feel they are treated fairly by the school's management.

Lynton Karmock-Golds took over as headteacher in 2002 and it is claimed a substantial number of staff have left since then. There have also been a number of allegations about bullying among pupils at the school.

Mr Hughes, whose union has been campaigning against workplace bullying for nearly 10 years, says he has met with members at the school who had expressed their concerns, and notes of the meeting had also been sent to the union's head office.

He said: "There are so many issues at Cleeve Park, there has to be a major union response to try and sort this out."

He added Bexley Council also needed to step in before problems among the staff affected the quality of education at the school.

The school declined to comment but a spokesman for Bexley Council said: "The Local Education Authority is talking to Cleeve Park about alleged concerns surrounding the recent staff surveys.

"Our role in this is to support the school, working closely with it to resolve any issues which may have been identified."