PARENTS of children at Harefield Infant and Junior schools have spoken out against the possible merger of the two schools to form a primary.

About 50 parents turned up to the third of five public meetings at Harefield Junior School organised as part of Southampton City Council's review into school places in the Townhill Park and Bitterne area. Education bosses hope to remove 400 surplus places due to falling birth rates by the end of 2008.

Three of the options they have put forward is to amalgamate Harefield Infant, which currently has 142 pupils aged four to seven on roll, with the neighbouring 210-pupil junior school in Yeovil Chase.

By turning the school into a one-form primary with 210 places they would remove a total of 208 places.

Southampton City Council's head of resources, planning and policy Andrew Hind said forecasts show that in just two years time 34.4 per cent of Harefield Infant 180 places will be empty, while one in four of the 238 places at Harefield Junior Schools will remain unfilled.

School funding depends on how many pupils they attract and Mr Hind said that it was the council's aim to reduce them. "We need to think how we use our money, your money and public money most effectively."

He said it may be necessary for the council to sell "parts" of school sites to pay for any major building projects to implement the changes.

Parent Christine Barter, 25, whose five-year-old daughter attends Harefield Infant said Moorlands should be closed because fewer parents and children would be affected.

Mike Wood, 43, a council worker of Bitterne who has a nine-year-old son Ethan in the junior school and five-year-old Joseph in the infant said it was difficult to make any decisions without a feasibility study showing the costs.

Shirley Infant head teacher Shirley Lewis said turning into a primary would mean refusing youngsters living in Harefield places.

Remaining public meetings are:

Tonight at Townhill Junior at 7pm.

Tomorrow at Woodlands Community School from 9am until 11am.