GOVERNORS of an infant school are worried parents are removing children because of fears over the "Townsend effect".

They say parents have already moved their children from Queen's Park Infant school, in East Way, because they are concerned the school will receive children from Townsend Primary School.

In their response to the statutory consultation, obtained by the Daily Echo under the Freedom of Information Act, the Queen's Park Infant School governors expressed serious concerns about the council's arrangements for the closure of Townsend School.

They wrote: "Already several of our supportive parents have left, and taken their children to other schools.

"All parents naturally want the best for their children. There is much concern about the Townsend effect'."

The governors are worried the influx of children from Townsend will mean a drop in the school's test results.

They wrote: "Our teachers are excellent, but are not miracle workers, and we feel that we are having to manage this impending situation with too many obstacles in our way."

The governing body is concerned that if the local authority has not managed to raise standards in Townsend over the last few years it might not be possible in other schools.

They asked the council: "What guarantee can you give that the four receiving schools, all of which have challenging circumstances of their own, will be able to raise these standards?

"Is it realistic to expect the receiving schools to take on all of these difficulties and raise standards in a year so that their present SATs results do not drop?"

The governors are also concerned the school will not have time to put in place a good induction process for children that are joining the school as their parents will only discover the school will definitely close towards the end of the summer term.

In another response from a governor of either Queen's Park Infants/Juniors, King's Park Primary or Malmesbury Park Primary, they were concerned that Queen's Park Junior School would be seen as "the new Townsend with all its problems just passed from one school to another".

They wrote: "Queen's Park Junior School has been in notice to improve' during the past year and, although great strides have been made and the notice removed, the situation is still fragile and care needs to be taken to ensure that progress continues.

"If parents remove their children from the school, as a consequence of the change in the catchment area, progress could be threatened."