Castle Hall School saved as inquiry overturns closure
PARENTS last night celebrated a historic victory.
It had been a long battle but they have finally won the war to save Castle Hall School.
Yesterday schools adjudicator Canon Richard Lindley announced his decision to overturn Kirklees Council’s plan to close the Mirfield school.
The news comes after a 16-month-long battle by campaign group Retain Education At Castle Hall (REACH) to save the school.
The council had wanted to shut the school as part of its controversial £200m Building Schools For The Future project.
The Richard Thorpe Avenue school is also celebrating top GCSE results – coming third in a league table of Kirklees schools this month.
Karen Rowling, who chairs REACH, said: "I’m on top of the world – I cannot describe how elated I feel. We always knew that we should win the fight.
"But we knew the council wasn’t going to back down and it would go all the way to adjudication.
"But to actually hear the news is unbelievable – we’re going to have the biggest party Mirfield has ever seen!"
Mrs Rowling, who has two daughters at Castle Hall, paid tribute to everyone who helped in the fight to save the school.
In particular she noted the hard work of chair of the governors Brian Nicholson, headteacher Andy Pugh and fellow REACH campaigner Alan Wilkinson.
She added: "The local MP Shahid Malik has also been a rock and I don’t think we could have done it without him."
The Dewsbury MP said: "I am absolutely delighted.
"The whole community has got behind the campaign.
"Justice has been done and this result is a great boost for young people and families in Mirfield and beyond.
"I have always maintained that the idea you would close the best performing school in the name of educational achievement is nothing short of perverse.
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