MORE than 100 parents are fighting plans to lay off their school's popular PE teacher.

Shirley Warren Primary School in Southampton has sparked an angry backlash for ditching Matt Alford to cope with timetable pressures.

The former teacher of the year winner is hugely popular with pupils and even the parents are "heartbroken", according to one woman supporting a petition.

Parent Amy Eden is rallying support at the school gates and handed around 120 signatures to governors on Monday.

Head teacher Alison Mann said the decision was taken "with regret" but was necessary to keep costs down and ensure teachers had enough cover to plan lessons together.

Mr Alford is a former community coach for Southampton FC and was nominated for national teacher of the year in Create Development's 2015 awards.

Daily Echo:

Matt Alford (right) has coached schoolchildren for Southampton FC

He is set to be replaced in September by two coaches from Southampton agency Testlands.

The coach declined to comment.

A petition to reinstate him reached 100 backers in 24 hours, which parent Emma Cooper said shows the strength of feeling.

"He's an amazing, amazing teacher," she said.

"The kids all love him, even to the point that when he's walking through the lunch hall they stop him and say 'Hi Matt!'

"They're going to be devastated when they find out."

Ms Cooper said Mr Alford went "more than" the extra mile, helping at homework and holiday clubs in his free time.

"There's so many parents that are absolutely heartbroken that he's going," she said.

Shirley Warren is moving from one to two-form entry in September, adding to pressure on staff.

Mrs Mann told the Daily Echo that more than one sport coach was needed to cover lessons when teachers get together to plan lessons.

She said: "We looked at bringing in top-up coaches to work as well as Matt – unfortunately that model was much more expensive and it was a significant difference, so we couldn't go down that route.

"It's really sad that Matt's leaving us. He has been our coach for four years. It's with regret, but unfortunately it's just become necessary to plan that staffing model in order to release teachers at the same time.

"It's been increasingly difficult for them to find time to plan together and meet the needs of the children."

Mr Alford's replacements will come from Testlands, an agency which serves 11 Southampton schools including Oakwood Primary, Vermont and Oasis Academy Lord's Hill.

Chief executive Luke Newman said the deal would allow Shirley Warren pupils to access Testlands' sporting competitions.

"We very, very, very, very, very rarely have complaints," he said.