A GROUP of parents who have protested about the way York's biggest secondary school is run have been invited by the head teacher to discuss their views.

The head teacher of Huntington School, Chris Bridge, has asked parents to attend a "proper parents forum" meeting next Tuesday.

Members of the Parents For Pupils forum, set up by the protesters, say they will attend, but are not hopeful their concerns will be addressed.

Group member Chris Fleming said: "I will certainly go and listen to what they have to say, but I am not hopeful.

"A lot of people will not be turning up because they do not believe they will get the right answers."

Another member, Cath Lee, is not eligible to attend after withdrawing her son from the school.

She said: "I think all past parents that have removed their children from school have a right to tell the governors why they removed them."

The group was formed by parents who criticised the school, saying it favoured high achievers and failed to help those who needed extra help.

But Mr Bridge denied the claims, branding them "monstrous".

He said the pupils concerned had been involved in incidents of vandalism and the children had been offered extra help.

In a newsletter to all parents Mr Bridge said he had spent the last four years trying to persuade parents to come to a regular school forum, but had cancelled it due to lack of support.

He said: "If there are parents of pupils at the school who have concerns about the way we managed behaviour, which is what the leaflet is most concerned about, can I invite them to a proper parents' forum meeting.

"At this meeting we will be happy to answer questions from current parents about how we support children, how we handle bullying issues and how we do investigations."

In the newsletter Mr Bridge also said the school had experienced increasing amounts of vandalism and stealing.

They had been successful in catching the pupils responsible.

He added: "We will continue to investigate theft carefully, establish the facts accurately and use the school's sanction system to teach pupils that stealing and vandalism are wrong."

Updated: 10:33 Friday, March 05, 2004