Angry parents have condemned plans to merge two Brighton schools because a popular headteacher could be removed from her post.

More than 60 parents and teachers attended a meeting at Hertford Infant School in Hollingdean last night to voice their concerns about a merger with Hertford Junior School.

There are fears the merger would mean losing Ros Smart, headteacher of the junior school.

Another concern is that younger children would be left behind in mixed-age classes.

Allison Funnell, a governor at the junior school said: "We are not at all happy about these proposals.

"Ros Smart is a fantastic head who really nurtures the children. It would be a travesty to lose her. I can tell you that governors, teachers and parents are all against the merger."

Amanda Bradbury, 31, said: "I want to see Ros Smart stay on as head. The children love her.

"There is a mutual respect between her and the children that you rarely see. If we lose her, the school will lose a lot of kids."

Brighton and Hove City Council wants to create a primary school on the site of the junior school in Brentwood Road because more than 25 percent of the places in both schools are empty.

The new school would be smaller with a reduced capacity of 45 in a year as opposed to 60.

Council officials told the meeting a merger would mean increased funding and would provide continuity of education for the children.

They said there would be plenty of room on the site to build new classrooms and the new school would take up to 45 pupils in each year.

The infant school would have to be sold to raise funds.

Councillor Pat Hawkes, chairwoman of the council's children, families and schools sub-committee, laid out three options on behalf of the authority.

These were: Closing both schools to open a new primary school and advertising for a new headteacher; closing the infant school and expanding the current junior site at Brentwood Road but keeping the headteacher; and leaving the schools as they were.

However, education officer Rosalind Turner said the last option was unsustainable in the long term as there were too few pupils at both schools.

She said: "If you look at the likely number of pupils for next year, both schools are half empty. Each school can take up to 60 pupils in each year at the moment - two classes of 30 - but most years have around 35 pupils."

At only half capacity, the schools were losing out on vital funding.

The council hopes if the schools decide to go ahead with the merger, the new facility would open in either September 2003 or September 2004.

Most parents at the meeting did not support the proposals.

They demanded a vote to reflect the current feeling, in which 21 parents voted against the merger, while only two were in favour.

Emily Humphreys, 28, from Hollingdean, said: "The infants site is too valuable to be lost. There are already strong links between the schools. I don't think the argument for continuity of education is enough."

Fellow governor and parent Alison Macey, 33, said: "We are worried that the safety aspect of the merger has not been thought through.

"The traffic around the junior school is already very bad and more pupils would make it a lot worse. Neither school has a crossing patrol at the moment."

Parents are also worried that mixed-age classes would be detrimental to the children.

There will be a second public meeting at Hertford Junior School tomorrow from 5pm to 7pm. The views of both meetings will then be reported to the children, families and schools sub-committee on October 14.