TEACHERS and parents of Longsight Primary School last night told Bolton education bosses: "We are going to fight you all the way."
Union leaders called for common sense from the politicians as they firmly backed the Longsight Primary Action Group to save their school from closure.
At a public meeting, staged at the Harwood school, parents and teachers drew up a last-minute battle plan to stop Bolton LEA shutting the school in August.
National Union of Teachers Bolton branch secretary Barry Conway urged parents to stand up and fight "not just for the kids and the school, but for education across the borough".
Parents of children at Longsight Primary vowed that they "will not sit down and take this", with headteacher George Hadfield openly speaking about his devastation as he was told of the pending closure just days before it was made public.
Campaigners from SOBS -- Save Our Bolton Schools -- were also at the meeting to pledge their support and expertise following a successful campaign which saved Bolton's schools last year.
Unison have donated £200 to start the campaign battle but a flurry of activity is now expected in the Bolton North area over Christmas and New Year.
Chairman of the school governors Gillian Platt said that they could expect to face high legal costs in their battle to save the school.
Bolton education chiefs are proposing to close the school because of dwindling numbers.
Mr Conway said that Longsight had classes of 22 to a teacher, which should be seen as a good thing, not a bad thing.
He told the meeting: "This decision to shut the school is not about the children. It is market-orientated, about best value and cost."
The NUT official said that teachers from neighbouring Christ's Church CE School, expected to inherit the site next year, are also reeling from the news along with colleagues at schools across Harwood.
At the meeting it was hinted that the move was to prevent Bolton's LEA from getting a "caning" from Whitehall for breaking nationwide policy targets on having special measures schools.
Headteacher Mr Hadfield said: "There has been no consultation. We are being given the image that we have failed. That is not true.
"I was told one-and-a-half days before an inspector's report was due out, proposing to shut this school.
"We will be out of a job in August and we won't be able to re-apply for our own jobs.
"The ethos and care at our school is outstanding and we are above average in the league tables."
Conservative Cllr Diana Brierley also pledged the support of conservative politicians against the closure. She said: "I can sense a hidden agenda here."
Chairman of the action group, Keith Elcoat, expressed his dismay that not one Labour councillor had responded to the residents' pleas for help.
Mr Elcoat, a self-confessed Labour voter, said: "I have hit a wall of silence from the Labour party in Bolton. That says it all."
The executive members for education will meet on January 9, 2002, to decide the school's fate.
The short time-scale, criticised by parents as being deliberate to prevent community outrage, has fuelled protesters to move quickly in their fight.
They are now lobbying MPs and businesses in the borough for support and will be seeking legal advice from Unison and the NUT.
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