PARENTS were out in force at Hannah Ball Infant School last Wednesday in response to threats to the future of the school.

As a result, Buckinghamshire County Council cabinet member for schools, Mike Appleyard, can expect a full postbag on the subject soon.

The school, in Philip Road, High Wycombe, was named in a report of the Wycombe Commission, set up by the county council, as one of three in the area which should close. It would become part of a combined school on the site of the present Beechview Junior School.

The decision rests with Cllr Appleyard and with the schools' organisation committee, which is the final arbiter, but the reaction when the report came out was that the school's fate was already as good as sealed.

Headteacher Maggie Moore, who did not think much of the commission's report, went into action.

She prepared her own evidence, arguing that this area of Wycombe would be left without a school, and that Hannah Ball should itself become a combined school with a nursery attached.

She circulated her report widely and called Wednesday's parents' meeting, notifying county and district councillors, members of the commission and LEA staff.

Two district councillors came, as did Val Letheren, who is standing for the Conservatives in June's county council elections. Cllr Appleyard was not present, nor any members of the Wycombe Commission.

The meeting was opened by chairman of the governors John Preece, who said: "We (the governors) are totally behind Maggie's document. There is absolute support for her and the staff."

He had some words of hope for parents, saying that even though the commission was set up by the LEA, its recommendations were not written in tablets of stone.

But he warned them that they must argue their case on the facts.

Dr Preece did not think much of the commission's report any more than Mrs Moore saying it was unscientific with no logical thought process running through it.

Dr Preece said the changes proposed would take schools out of the local area where more homes were being built and create a new primary school in a swamp.

"This meeting can show Mike Appleyard our concerns and that the best place for a primary education is on this site," he added.

Mrs Moore said she, the staff and governors wanted to propose that the school should stay where it was, absorb Bowerdean Nursery, which had to go because its building was condemned, and take children until they were 11.

"We have the space to do it," she said, adding that the only thing needed was to flatten some of the sloping site to provide space for junior football at a cost of about £80,000.

She said the commission did not take into account the large number of non-English speakers in her school area and she feared if there was no local nursery school non-English speaking parents might not take their children to school until they were five, which would be a further disadvantage for them.

Sixty-eight per cent of the children are from ethnic minority families and 42 per cent have English as a second language.

Mrs Moore also stressed the school's role as a centre for other activities, including a playgroup, an after-school club and classes teaching adults English as a second language.

She also warned about traffic and road safety if children had to walk further to get to school. Most people walked to the school but a lot more would use cars in future.

She said SATs results had risen for five years, the school had an Investors in People award and had been chosen by the county council to feature in its publicity material.