Keighley Education Action Group is strongly urging School Standards Minister Estelle Morris not to overlook the town.

The campaigners are inviting the minister to visit Keighley next month.

Mrs Morris will be visiting Bradford next month to look at the Council's education review and deliver a speech on early-years provision.

And the education action group believes it would be the perfect opportunity for the minister to have a look at the situation facing Keighley schools.

KEAG member Joyce Newton says: "Bradford wants to improve education. So do we. But the authority is going about it the wrong way.

"It thinks it can bus Keighley children out of the town for their schooling, but Keighley is a close knit community and we need classroom places for our children.

"We want to show Estelle Morris what Keighley needs. If ministers can see the town's schools in action and speak to teachers, parents and governors, she will have a far better idea of our needs than looking at a map 200 miles away in London. It's vital Keighley doesn't become an afterthought in this review."

Members of the group claim that under Bradford Council's proposals, 270 secondary school places will be lost and small village schools will be forced to close.

KEAG also claims that the restructure will take white children away from mixed-culture schools to be educated in other areas. There is also the fear that more than 500 children will have to be bussed into neighbouring valleys, which the action group says could be treacherous in winter.

Oakbank School head teacher John Roberts has also criticised education chiefs for its plans to build a new secondary school in Cullingworth because there are not enough secondary places in Keighley rather than creating one in the town itself.

Education chairman Jim Flood was unavailable for comment. But in the past, when asked about the situation in Keighley, he has said: "We have a strategic responsibility for the district and this review is about the future rather than the past and ensuring it is consistent. It means pleasure in some quarters and pain in others."

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