STAFF, parents and governors picked up their placards outside a Feltham school this week in protest to the planned removal of nursery nurses from Hounslow schools.

Lyn Ravenhill, head teacher at Cardinal Road Infant & Nursery School, described her shock at receiving an e-mail from the Local Education Authority (LEA) outlining a potential two per cent cut in the education budget affecting nursery nurses in the reception classes around the borough's schools.

She quickly contacted parents and governors to discuss the future of the reception classes and a protest was organised outside the school for Wednesday afternoon. Reception classes are taken before children move onto nursery school.

Ms Ravenhill, told the Times: Funding is provided for one nursery nurse to be present with every nursery teacher in a class of four and five-year-olds.

Without funding we will be left with just one adult in each class. A nursery nurse costs £500 per child and there are 85 children. We have three nursery nurses. Money from the LEA is decided by an age weighted pupil unit which amounts to £18,000 to employ a nursery nurse.

The council has to make cuts for its services. It needs to cut three million off its education budget for Hounslow Schools and the reception budget could be included.''

She added: I received an e-mail from the LEA last week and I was quite shocked. We are in the business of trying to raise standards. How can we do this when the cuts are being proposed at the foundation of the children's education?

I informed the parents and we will see what they want to do and how best to keep protesting.''

A school governor, Ruth Stephens, added: The children will lose out. It is a critical time in their education in which they learn a lot. It will affect the whole of the borough schools, so it is a big issue.''

There are around six nursery nurses in reception and nursery classes at each school. They study for two years in child development, psychology, development through play and family dynamics. They focus on the education and care of children, often providing parents with feedback about their child.

A council spokesman explained that the government allocation to Hounslow for 2002/3 is one of the lowest in London.

This is because of a fall in the population of the borough. Using the allocation, the council must also fund increasing services for homeless people, children in care and elderly,'' he explained.

As with every year, the council must consult about the level of council tax, and the proposed increases. In respect of the education budget, a full consultation is also carried out with schools and interested parties.

This consultation, which is on-going and will end on February 15th, highlights the need for the council to identify potential savings. A number of options have been suggested to schools and the headteachers and governing bodies will be responding to the Education department.

Obviously not all of the proposed savings can be popular, especially when it relates to education. Hounslow Council currently funds some areas of service in schools, especially in the Early Years, at a higher level than that set out by Government policy. This means that schools and the council will face very difficult decisions about this area of education,'' he concluded.