PARENTS have vowed to battle to save a Mirfield school threatened with closure.
More than 100 met in a pub to plan an action campaign to save Castle Hall School.
And they vowed to battle on several fronts to save the school - one of several threatened with closure under £200m plans unveiled earlier this month by Kirklees Council.
Castle Hall School would go within five years under the Brighter Futures plan, with pupils transferring to Mirfield Free Grammar School, which would expand to more than 2,000 students.
The size of the new school was one of the concerns of the parents who packed into the Old Colonial pub to air their views.
Karen Rowling, one of the meeting organisers, said: “We want to retain the choice of which schools we send our children to in Mirfield.
“My daughter Jemma has just started at Castle Hall and she has settled in nicely. Then, days after the start of the term, came the news they planned to shut the school.
“Myself and other parents are very disappointed with the plans, especially those affecting Mirfield.
“The two schools in Mirfield work very well together and both achieve very good results. Some 90% of the students from Castle Hall go on to further education and that is a very good performance.
“We want to retain the choice and I certainly don’t want my younger daughter Megan to be going to a 2,000-pupil school on a site that is clearly not suitable for something that size”.
Mrs Rowling said other concerns centred on what could happen to the existing Castle Hall School site.
“Some of the people at the meeting are residents who live in that area and they are very worried about what the council may do with a prime site right in the heart of Mirfield,” she said.
A protest march through Mirfield is planned for October 4 and parents are also stepping up their lobbying campaign of Kirklees councillors with e-mails, letters and a petition.
