public to his plans for middle schools.

The first rumblings of discontent about the reforms came at a meeting at St.

George's Preparatory School last night.

But they were balanced by much support for many of the plans due to start implementation by 1996.

A crowd of more than 60 parents and teachers turned up to question the Minister during a parents' evening at the school.

The main worries appeared to be how St. George's Secondary School will be improved when it is converted into a middle school catering for most of the children of St. George's.

Mr. Simons admitted St. George's Secondary had traditionally been a school low in "the pecking order'' when it came to children's abilities. But he said: "We are moving away from that now. We are looking to principals to control curriculums.'' Mr. Simons said that the idea was to standardise all the middle schools although it would be impossible to do this completely. He stressed inspectors from the education department would be looking at curriculums to try and find a balance.

Some parents were worried their young children would be exposed to adverse peer pressure from older children at St. George's Secondary. They said the school had a bad reputation.

But other parents defended the school as did PTA President Mr. Ross Smith who said St. George's residents had been invited to the school to see what was on offer and had declined to go.

Mr. Simons said: "You must recognise that $1 million has already been spent on St. George's Secondary School so it is probably better off than Warwick Academy and Whitney Institute at this point in time.'' He said that targets set by the Education Department were realistic over the next six years, but said that a lot of people expected action "today, or even yesterday''.

Parents asked Mr. Simons how he would assess if the new system was working.

One father commented that children could still leave school in Bermuda without being able to read and write.

He said: "I would expect parents and teachers to know how the children were progressing. You must be vigilant to see if there are any problems. One thing that makes teachers lives a little easier is if parents are interested in their children's education.''