THE headteachers of Silsden's infant and junior schools are calling for new facilities to accommodate the growing number of children in the town.

Aire View Infants School's Vicki Bottomley and Hothfield Junior School's Bill Bairstow say the current school buildings are no longer big enough to cope with the increasing amount of pupils.

Mrs Bottomley said: "The accommodation at Aire View is very limited. We are really struggling for space. We need a new school with better facilities and Hothfield is in the same position."

The two schools have been allocated £600,000 each for redevelopment, but a meeting of headteachers, governors and local councillors felt the money would be more wisely spent on constructing new buildings.

Their suggestions are being considered by Education Bradford, which manages education issues on behalf of Bradford Council.

Mr Bairstow said: "We are eligible for modernisation money - £600,000 for Hothfield and the same amount for Aireview.

"Builders and surveyors have been coming into school for the past 18 months but it has proved difficult to find a suitable place for the school to expand.

"We want to find the type of extension that justifies spending that kind of money and other sites and possibilities are being looked at. We are at the start of a consultation process which will assess all the options."

There are two main options:

o to retain the current system of having separate infant and junior schools but in new buildings, possibly on the same site;

o to revise the system and have two primary schools at either side of Silsden operating independently and encompassing both age groups.

But while having two primary schools would ensure lower pupil numbers in each year group there were concerns expressed that it could be divisive for the town. The heads also added that the present system of one school feeding into the other worked well.

Mrs Bottomley said: "We have enjoyed a really good working relationship, and pupils transfer very smoothly. We have two very successful schools in Silsden.

"We have spoken to the staff and they have very mixed views."

However, the town could increase by a third if Bradford Council's Unitary Development Plan is approved, and that would mean the schools could have up to four classes in each age group if the present system remained, with up to 1,000 pupils on one site.

Mr Bairstow said: "The priority from our point of view is to make sure whatever Bradford does is for the best for the children of Silsden. We need to go to the community and ask their advice. We are not in a position to say what is the best option."

However, he added he was not prepared to accept a solution which did not provide the same quantity and quality of facilities.

"It would be ridiculous to move and be worse off," he said, adding that he hoped a solution would be put in place by 2005.

Councillors felt parents would be in favour of retaining the current infant and junior system. "If you sent a letter out to every mum and dad here, 99 per cent would say 'we like what we've got and we want to keep it'," Coun Chris Atkinson said.

Members agreed they wanted to see a proper consultation on the plans before any decision was made by Education Bradford.

Bradford Council's director of Education, Phil Green, said: "We would like to improve the buildings at the two schools in Silsden and are reviewing their sites and buildings in the light of capital funding having become available.

"We want to bring them up to the same standard as other schools which have benefited from a reorganisation scheme. We are also looking to see if we can identify a suitable alternative site to give them more room whilst keeping the two schools very close to each other."