CASTLE Hall School in Mirfield is to be closed.

Councillors will meet on Thursday to rubber-stamp a decision first taken months ago – despite a huge public outcry.

There have been protest marches between Mirfield and the town halls in Huddersfield and Dewsbury.

And a campaign group called Reach – Retain Education At Castle Hall – galvanised thousands of parents and pupils to fight for the school, with hundreds of letters and petitions.

Parents pointed to the recent exam success rates at Castle Hall as a viable reason to keep the school.

But councillors are now set to go ahead with the controversial closure plan.

Castle Hall will be shut as from August 31, 2013.

The final pupils will be admitted to the school in September 2012 and from September 2013 they and others would transfer to the enhanced and extended Mirfield Free Grammar School or a school of their choosing.

The Castle Hall buildings would be used by the Grammar School on a temporary basis.

The decision has been fiercely opposed by Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik.

He has fought alongside the parents to retain the school and has condemned politicians of every colour, including his own Labour Party, for their stance on the school.

But in a 180-page document, leading councillors and officials spell out the reasons for the closure decision – part of the £200m Building Schools for the Future project.

In the reports, councillors Kath Harris and Ken Smith recommend adopting the closure process.

They said: “Changes to the pattern of provision for 11-16 year olds are required. Too many of our high schools struggle to achieve financial stability, which can seriously restrict the range of curriculum provision and student support.

“We need to have high schools that are financially viable, offer a full and broad curriculum and feel welcoming and comfortable to all students.

“One current issue is over-provision of places for 11-16 year old pupils in North Kirklees. This over-provision has a detrimental effect on school budgets, meaning they can employ fewer staff than would be the case without this factor.

“We, the Cabinet Members for Children and Young People, support the recommendations set out by officers in this report”.

The councillors claim Mirfield currently has two high schools providing approximately 2,000 places for 11-16 year old students.

However, the total number of 11-16 year old students living in Mirfield is around 1,000, which means that around 1,000 students travel into Mirfield on a daily basis from areas which have their own high school.

They added: “This has, and would continue to have, a serious effect on the viability of these other high schools by significantly reducing the number of students attending them. Schools are funded primarily on the number of students who attend: reduced numbers means less income which weakens their financial base and threatens the curriculum range.

“There has been a very high profile and vigorous campaign to retain Castle Hall School which has focussed in entirety on the quality of the school and their desire to retain it and consequently the choice of two high schools in Mirfield.

Some claims have been made about the high quality of attainment at the school and while we have sought to correct excessive claims, overall this is not and never has been a real issue.

“It is about the over provision in Mirfield to the serious detriment of other Kirklees high schools”.