PARENTS who say they have lost faith in York's biggest secondary school have formed an action group to air their concerns.

The parents, who have formed the Parents For Pupils Forum, have criticised the ethos of Huntington School and claim it does not help underachieving pupils.

Two of the parents have now withdrawn their children from the school and a third says he is on the verge of doing so.

But the school's head teacher, Chris Bridge, has categorically denied the "monstrous" claims, saying three of the children involved have had to be dealt with for bad behaviour.

The group was formed by Cath Lee and Chris Fleming, who say they have had 12 people contact them with similar experiences.

Cath, from Strensall, removed her son Joshua Hall, aged 15, from the school.

She claims Joshua, who suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, was unfairly excluded following a schoolboy prank and says it took three years to get him into special needs classes.

She has now sent Joshua to Burnholme Community College.

Chris, also from Strensall, said he wanted to move his 15-year-old son Luke from the school because he was "deeply unhappy" with the lack of communication he had experienced.

But, he said, because of his role as a serviceman, Luke had moved around a number of schools and he was keen not to disturb his studies further.

He said: "I have been deeply unhappy about the lack of communication in the school.

"My son is there and I would like to withdraw him, but I am a serviceman and it is the only time he has felt settled."

Another parent, Marcelle Mandy, removed her 13-year-old son, David, from the school because she claims he suffered from dyslexia and dsypraxia and was not given adequate help.

She said: "I will not send my younger son to the school.

"If you are a grade 'A' student, you will flourish; if you are not, they are not interested."

But Mr Bridge said: "Only one of the three children involved, to our knowledge, has ever complained to us about being bullied and that claim was unsubstantiated.

"All three children have, at different times, had to be dealt with by the school for criminal damage: one for damage to three staff cars and two of them for damage to Christmas lights outside a member of staff's house - for which no compensation was ever paid by the children or by their parents.

"That the parents of these children should now blame us for having a poor ethos and only being interested in academic results is monstrous.

"All of these children have been offered extra help at time. We even involved, at the request of one of these parents, the services of someone from outside school, to help get one of their children back to the school. At the same meeting we offered a personal mentor.

"This offer, which we would have paid for, was turned down.

"As for the ethos of the school, it is what we are most proud of.

"This school offers a wide range of opportunities inside and outside the classroom."

Cath and Chris said their sons were involved with the damage to the Christmas lights, but described it as a "schoolboy prank".

Marcelle said the damage to the cars was done by her son, but said she believed he was provoked and he had paid for the damage.

Liz McNeil, Huntington's chair of governors, said: "Huntington School is both a caring and a high-achieving school. We want all of our young people to succeed academically and socially - results prove that we do this very well for students of all abilities.

"Huntington School listens to parents and we have carried out surveys of all parents to hear their views. We are about to carry out another survey."

Patrick Scott, director of education at City of York Council, said: "Huntington is a highly successful and popular school, which is regularly oversubscribed because it is perceived by many parents to maintain high standards and help its students realise their full potential."

Updated: 10:44 Thursday, March 04, 2004