This act of youthful activism follows the sacking last week of 24-year-old Lynne Tziolas after she and her husband appeared in a Cleo magazine article titled "Buck naked couples talk about their sex lives". The article ran interviews with 10 couples about "what they get up to between the sheets" and asked Ms Tziolas and her husband, Antonios, how many times they have sex a week, their favourite body part and the most risque sexual thing they've done.

"Leaving the blinds up and the lights on, which is all the time," Antonios said in response to the last question. Complaints Ms Tziolas's sacking prompted some parents to complain.

One parent, Eileen Sawaid, organised a petition to demand Ms Tziolas's reinstatement, and she said she has received about 300 signatures. "I fully support Lynne and will fight damn hard to help her because what happened is wrong," she said this morning.

Instead of protecting the children from the contents of the magazine, the sacking of Ms Tziolas had in fact brought it to their attention, she said. "The way the children found about about Ms Tziolas's [magazine shoot] was after she was sacked, it had been out for a while before then and none of them had even heard about it," she said. Ms Sawaid also said she had misgivings about how the children at the school had become part of the issue, and criticised a story in the Manly Daily today which discussed the student petition to reinstate Ms Tziolas.

Not good for children to be involved "Her dismissal affects the children in many ways but the [issue] is an adult one and I don't think it's good for the children to be involved," she said.

Ms Tziolas's husband Antonios also said he regretted the involvement of the children. "We're a little bit upset that the kids are being damaged collaterally by all this ... it would upset Lynne and I if they get punished for what they've done," he said. The principal of the school, Julie Organ, referred questions about the alleged confiscation of the classroom petition to the Department of Education.

A spokesman for the department said: "As the situation is complex and not one easily explained to junior primary school age children, it is inappropriate for them to be asked to sign a petition without the advice and guidance of parents. Concerned parent

"A parent raised her concern with the school about a petition being created during class time. "The petition, which had only a small number of signatures, was provided to the principal and the exercise book in which it had been written was returned to the parent of the student involved." Mr Tziolas also said the couple were due to meet a lawyer provided by the Teacher's Federation this afternoon to begin legal action to have Ms Tziolas reinstated, he said.

"Lynne and I have just been overwhelmed by the response - people we've never met have been sending us letters, people have been stopping us in the streets to give us their support," he said.