HUNDREDS of parents could face a child-care nightmare next year after two Burnley high schools fell out over when to have their half-term holidays.

The town's two Catholic schools of St Theodore's and St Hilda's have always shared the same mid-term autumn holiday in the past but now disagree over when it should be.

The row could lead to parents with children at both schools facing serious child-care problems and disrupting family holiday plans.

Both schools are now working to resolve the issue.

St Theodore's, an all-boys school with 940 pupils on the roll, wants to hold the half-term holiday in the same week as the rest of Burnley but St Hilda's are insisting they want to follow the national pattern.

Headteacher at St Theodore's John Tat said the issue had arisen because pupils at his school shared lessons with other Burnley schools, including Habergham High and Burnley College, and needed the same holidays so youngsters did not miss out on lessons.

But the all-girls St Hilda's, which has around 760 pupils, want the same week as schools nationally as they have a lot of staff who live outside the Burnley area.

One of the parents affected is Burnley golf pro Paul McEvoy whose son Christopher, 13, is at St Theodore's and daughter Hannah, ten, is going to St Hilda's next year.

Mr McEvoy said: "This will certainly cause a problem in terms of child care and organising things for holidays if the schools have different half-terms and it would make more sense if they could work together."

Mr Tat said: "We are in the process of trying to resolve this issue over the half-term holiday and negotiations are continuing to try and sort it out.

"We would prefer to follow the Burnley pattern of holidays because of our collaberation with other educational establishments in the town.

"We do understand that having different holidays would be an inconvenience for parents who may have children at both St Theodore's and St Hilda's, but our priority must be the education of our pupils."

Chairman of governors at St Hilda's Barbara Rycroft said: "We weren't aware this was a problem. St Hilda's has followed the national pattern since 1998, partly because our feeder schools also follow this pattern and because a large proportion of our staff live outside the Burnley area and we need to bear in mind their work-life balance."

Peter Doyle, leader of the Conservative Party, said: "I find this situation ridiculous, there is no reason why these two schools can't come to an arrangement to have the same holidays.

"In fact I don't understand why all the schools in Burnley can't have the same holidays. It would make much more sense and help parents who have children that go to different schools."

His views were today echoed by parents of pupils at the two schools.

Peter Clegg from Brierfield has a child at St Hilda's and two at St Theodore's. He said: "That won't be good because we'll have children off at different times. It will affect childcare.

"I would prefer it if all the schools had the same half term. It's inconvenient that Burnley has a different system."

Gillian Corteen, 40, whose son Jack, 12, attends StTheodores's, said different holidays would be problematic for her arranging child care. She said: "I would like St Hilda's and St Theodore's to get in line with the national holidays. My daughter Katie will be attending St Hilda's in the summer and if the holidays are not at the same time it will be a big problem."

Tracy Cooke, 39 has a 11-year-old son Matthew who attends St Theodore's and a 13-year-old daughter Sarah who attends St Hilda's.

She said: "It will cause major problems for me as I work full time and so does my husband. I would like them to follow the same holiday pattern, most parents would."

Karen Doney, 44 has two sons Simon and Matthew, 15 and 16 respectively who attend St Theodore's and another son Jack, nine, who goes to St Stephen's primary.

She said she wanted all schools to have the same holidays and added: "When the children are off at the different times it causes big problems."

A Lancashire County Council spokesman said: "We have not been made aware of this request from the two schools.

"But we would be willing to discuss it with the governing bodies if they approach us."

Fr Michael Walsh, of the Catholic Salford Diocese, said: "Holidays are a matter for the schools' governing bodies. Presumably they will work this out."