Bradford's school's reorganisation could be set back by a year unless a decision is reached within seven days, teaching unions have warned.

Vital staffing arrangements to re-deploy 1,400 teachers from closing schools to new schools are due to start on February 10 and are already on a tight timetable.

Teaching unions have now warned that a delay of as little as a week on top of that could scupper the whole process for a year causing costs to rocket and morale to plummet.

"If we do not get a decision soon there is a real danger of the reorganisation being set back by 12 months," said Mark Newman, of the National Association of Headteachers.

"It is getting pretty desperate," added Ian Murch of the NUT.

"If it was a question of the odd day adrift, that would be all right, but anymore than that and we might have to abandon part of it for the time being."

February 10 is the crucial day when the process of putting 1,400 teachers displaced by the shake-up into new jobs is due to begin.

The re-allocation must be completed by July as the fresh term in September is scheduled to see the first wave of children who would have gone to middle schools but will be kept back at primary schools.

Around a quarter of the total number of staff to be re-deployed will be needed by September to take care of that extra intake. The danger is the process will not be complete in time and will have to be put on hold a year to prevent switching teachers around schools mid-term.

A spokesman for the Department of Education and Employment said no decision on the re-organisation had yet been reached by ministers and could not give any date when the decision was likely.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.