At least one group has come out in favour of Government's proposal to make Northlands a primary school and Dellwood a middle school.

The Northlands Parent Teachers Association are behind the proposed move because they say the present Northlands site is appalling and not conducive to learning.

On Tuesday the Northlands PTA met to tour the school and the majority of parents attending were dissatisfied with the quality of the classrooms and bathrooms.

Mrs. Joy Warren, whose 11-year-old son is in his first year at Northlands, said that though she had high praise for the quality of both the instruction and the course content, she thought the school buildings were in an awful state.

"I can empathise with the Dellwood parents who do not want to see their children moved over here,'' she said yesterday. "I thought what I saw was disgusting.

"That school has close to 300 kids and there are only nine bathrooms, six for the girls, three for the boys.

"The classrooms are tiny and I was left wondering how teachers manage to supervise exams with the desks being so close together.'' Mrs. Warren said that the assembly area was in a poor state of disrepair and overall she thought it would be better for the children to move to Dellwood which has bigger classrooms and a larger field.

She also sympathised with teachers who she said were left "all alone'' at the Nicholl Institute which is at the Dellwood property and is the place where Northlands students are taught Home Economics and Woodwork.

"What happens if the teacher has to deal with a disruptive student?'' she asked. "How can they get help?.'' PTA president Mrs. Lynette Waldron, said that she was absolutely amazed that the Northlands teachers managed to consistently produce high calibre students with the inadequate facilities they had available.

"In spite of these appalling conditions, they had a 98 percent graduation rate last year,'' she said, "Imagine if the facilities and equipment were up to par? "All this has been achieved even though the Education Ministry is not doing what it is supposed to be doing.'' Mrs. Waldron said that the Northlands PTA were going to visit Dellwood to look at the school soon, but that a definite date had not been decided because they were trying to arrange the tour through the proper channels.

So far the Dellwood PTA have come out strongly against Government's decision regarding the two schools even though the Ministry has extensive plans to improve the Northlands site.

Ministry of Education facilities manager Mr. John Morbey said that Government was aware of the inadequacies at Northlands, and his department was set to start working on improving the buildings during the summer of 1996.

At that time ramps would be built to accommodate wheelchair users, along with an art, music and computer centre.

There are plans for six more classrooms, and the field across the road would be pushed back from its present 170 feet length to 220 feet which the Ministry thinks is an adequate length for primary aged children.