A primary head teacher is holding an open forum at her school in a bid to breach the information gap about the schools shake-up.

Sarah Kingston, head at Holycroft Primary School in Keighley, said she had spent huge amounts of time and effort preparing for certain scenarios in the reorganisation, only to find whole new proposals were in the pipeline.

"It's very difficult to know what to tell parents because the situation does change frequently," she said.

"I think it has caused an enormous amount of anxiety in our parents who are very concerned for the quality of their children's education. It has been very difficult for me and for the school because I have had no information to share with parents.

"The little information I shared changes so often, parents have now almost switched off because no-one knows what's happening. It's a concern for me because I'm concerned to maintain the high quality of education here and I can do that, but with no concrete plans it's hard."

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 4 so parents can go into school, find out what will be happening in September, ask any questions they have and share their worries.

"I want to keep channels of communication open," Mrs Kingston said. Eventually, a new building is planned for the school, which will then take 60 children in each year.

The original plans for pupils to move to the Bronte Middle School site this September while their new building was constructed have been abandoned. Pupils at Oakbank School in the town will now use the Bronte site for a year from this autumn, with Holycroft pupils moving there in September 2001.

But plans for this September are still not finalised, because of the added complication of the future of a building near the school - which used to be part of the school some years ago - but is now occupied by engineers from Bradford Council's Highways department.

An education spokesman for Bradford Council said: "Negotiations are still ongoing between the Local Education Authority and the Highways Department to ensure that satisfactory arrangements can be reached as soon as possible."

But Mrs Kingston said she hopes that the engineers will move out, the building will be refurbished by September and an early years unit for nursery and reception children can be set up there, to continue permanently on that site. That would free up valuable space in the main building for a computer room and library.

"Currently, the hall is too small for our children's needs, but I understand that the contingency plan should the engineers not be out in time for them to refurbish over there is for more temporary accommodation."

Another temporary classroom - added to the one the school was given last year - would mean even less playground space, said Mrs Kingston. Already this year, children have had to have staggered play times.

Mrs Kingston has been told a date will be set when she will finally know whether she will have another temporary classroom or will be able to use the Highways building.

"We have to try to deal with this as positively as we can, for the sake of the children," she said.

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