An unholy row has broken out at a Church of England school after governors ordered a new staffing structure.

More than 20 furious parents armed with banners and a loud-hailer marched outside the school in Leysdown today.

It followed a previous protest when parents hung a sheet outside the school’s sister site in Eastchurch demanding: “We need new governors not head teachers.”

Two popular teachers at the schools have opted to take voluntary redundancy after changes were announced by Andy Booth, chairman of the governors. Sarah Hunt and Michelle Crowe are to leave at the end of the year.

Mrs Hunt is head of school at the All Saints site of Eastchurch Church of England Primary School in Warden Road, Eastchurch. Miss Crowe is head of school at the St Clement site in Leysdown Road, Leysdown.

One mum warned: “There are going to be lots of events happening in support of these two teachers.”

Today's banners said: “We want Miss Crowe. Budget cuts can go!” and “We want two heads not five managers.”

As Mr Booth, a Conservative councillor on Swale council who was also recently elected to Kent County Council, drove out of the school this morning the crowd chanted: “Out, out, out!”

The new structure will replace the two Head of Schools with an Executive Head and Deputy Head across both sites, two assistant heads (one at each site) and a School Business Manger to help apply for grants and renegotiate contracts.

One mum said: “We are protesting because Andy Booth is tearing this school apart. We will do whatever we can to stop him.”

But in a four-page “letter home” to parents issued on Wednesday Mr Booth tried to calm troubled waters.

He denied governors were hiding information but explained parents had not been consulted because of the “highly sensitive and confidential nature” of the process.

He wrote: “It is neither legal nor ethical to consult with parents (but) governors value the contributions parents make and take every effort to seek their views.”

He said there had been two consultation periods with staff and trade unions and insisted all teachers had been able to apply for roles in the new structure. But he said some had decided to take voluntary redundancy.

He stressed: “This plan is absolutely not about losing good staff or getting rid of anybody.”

He said the school had been without an Executive Head teacher for three years because of “significant changes in funding and budget pressures.”