A KENT headteacher has defended her decision to ban babies and young children from attending her school's Christmas nativity play amid complaints from local parents.

Heather Hadley, of Gateway Primary School at Dartford, decided to withdraw the invitation to children under the age of three following disruptions to the school play last Christmas.

She said: "Last year younger children could be heard crying and talking through the play. This year's performance has a lot of speaking parts, so I have asked parents not to bring young children so that pupils are not put off or distracted by excess noise."

Some parents at the school have argued that by banning younger brothers and sisters from coming to the play it also means some parents too will be excluded from the special performance.

One parent, who wished not to be named, said: "I have two children under three and I don't have anywhere that I can leave them during the day as most people are still at work. This probably means that I won't be able to watch my daughter in the play."

To ease the problems some parents may face, the head had suggested a crèche could be run by the PTA on the days the play is taking place. But this offer has left some feeling the idea is to smooth over bad feeling between parents and staff, rather than having the children's best interests at heart.