Angry primary school parents are to personally petition the Premier after Government scrapped a class forcing children to travel miles for lessons.

Parents worry St. George's Preparatory School may have to close if numbers are not kept up as children are diverted to East End Primary.

It's understood that a 300-plus-name petition will be handed to Premier Jennifer Smith, who is the local MP, on Friday.

And Senator Kim Swan called on the Premier to answer the concerns of her constituents.

He said: "She speaks for education in the House of Assembly. I think in between trips she should at least make an effort to see the people. People are concerned.'' And there was anger over comments made by Education Secretary Milton Scott about the highly-regarded school.

In The Royal Gazette yesterday, Senator Scott had said St. George's would only be allowed to get one entry class instead of two this year while East End Primary took up the slack.

And he claimed the school had been told about the plan last year. Carla Hopwood, President of the Parent and Teachers Association at St. George's Prep, hit back: "We were not informed as a PTA.'' And she questioned whether the head teacher would have let so many people apply to the school if she knew places were to be halved this year.

One parent, Lorene Phillips, said she had chosen St. George's Prep over Saltus because she was so impressed with the set up at the school.

Mrs. Hopwood said: "Would we have told her to give up her a place at Saltus if she didn't have a chance of getting her child into the Prep?'' "Sen. Scott brought up East End School -- I am not happy about that. We should be judged on our own merits.

"People are really upset about this. They can't believe this is happening.

This is a school that started in the 1880s.'' Mr. Scott had been reluctant to explain why parents had been barred from sending their children to a high performing school which was prepared to take them.

Mrs. Hopwood said: "I was quite surprised he wasn't concerned about the high standards at the school.'' "Why give tests if you are not going to use them as a basis for looking at schools? And she said parents had met a stone wall in their bid to reverse the decision.

Mrs. Hopwood said: "One parent sat outside the ministry and asked to see someone about this issue but (was) told they were all at lunch or were in meetings.'' Yesterday, Government defended their decision to axe the extra entry class at St. George's Prep.

A spokesman said: "The Ministry of Education established the policy of reducing class sizes soon after this Government assumed office in November 1998 and all principals were informed of this decision in January 1999.

"The Board of Trustees of St. George's Preparatory School raised concerns about the impact of this decision on the space available at the school for accommodating additional classes.

"The Ministry responded to the board in March 1999 indicating that its concerns, with respect to the availability of space, could be accommodated by alternating the school in the St. George's area that accepted additional students.''