A mass exodus of teachers and heads has been forecast in the aftermath of the school closure proposals.

The departure is expected over fears that the shake-up of schools will cause years of upheaval and months of uncertainty over jobs in the district.

This week it was announced that 70 of Bradford's 246 schools will close.

Other schools, mainly first schools, will move into vacant middle school buildings and become primaries capable of handling up to 630 children aged four to 11.

But a large number will be technically closed and relocated or reopened on the same site, meaning staff will lose their jobs in those schools and will have to apply to be redeployed where there are vacancies in new primary or secondary schools.

Councillor Margaret Eaton, Tory group leader on Bradford Council, feared large numbers of staff could leave for jobs outside Bradford causing children's education to suffer.

"I am very unhappy about it. We are going to lose a lot of excellent teachers from the authority and the children going through this system are bound to be disrupted," she said.

"In places like Stoney Lee Middle School and Parkside Middle they have excellent teams of teachers and these are going to be split up. I am also worried about the size of some of these enormous secondary schools which are to be created with 1,500 pupils. They're more like factories than schools."

Chris Milone, head at Eccleshill North Middle, which will be closed so it can become a new primary, said teachers would rush out tomorrow to browse the appointments section of the Times Educational Supplement.

"A lot of good teachers may jump ship," she said. "That is the worry. My plea is to the LEA to ensure that the excellent leadership and quality and expertise among our teachers is not lost because of the reorganisation."

But Alan Hall, head at Belle Vue Girls' which will become a secondary school for 11 to 18-year-olds, said he would welcome the expertise and skills of middle school teachers.

"We don't want people who are not happy about coming. We are keen to employ them and use their expertise providing they want to be here," he said.

The education authority has stated repeatedly that the same number of teachers will be required because Bradford will have the same number of children to educate.

Middle school teachers, though, will be torn between moving to a secondary or a primary where they will either have to teach children much older or younger than they are used to.

Mike Joyce, head at Mandale Middle which will become a 420-place primary, said: "This school is going to lose its specialist teachers. So much for raising standards."

Education chairman Jim Flood said: "There will be redeployment. As far as teachers are concerned, there are going to be the same number of children to teach and we operate a non-compulsory redundancy policy so there should be a job for everyone who wants one. We are in discussions with the unions on how the closures and changes to schools will work."

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