The fight has been launched to save Oldfield First School from closure.

The proposal to close the single-classroomed, 40-pupil school was firmly rejected last Friday night at a meeting packed with staff, governors, parents, residents and parents of former pupils.

The gathering was opposed to the closure on the grounds that the school provides excellent education and is a focus for the community. Head-teacher Maggie Redpath says: "If they take away the school at Oldfield then they take away the heart of the community."

She says there appears to be a difference between national and local Labour strategy. "We have a Labour government saying categorically that small rural schools will be treated as a special case and will not close," she says. "Within two weeks a Labour council is proposing to close one.

"It is important that parents know if their elected councillors are going to toe the national line or the local one."

A group lobbied councillors before Tuesday's education committee meeting. But it failed to halt a decision to press ahead with consultations on proposals to close Oldfield.

The Oldfield opponents are writing to Education Secretary David Blunkett and Minister Stephen Byers, seeking answers about why their school was selected for closure. Keighley MP Ann Cryer will also be thanked for her support so far and asked for reassurances that she will continue to back them. A letter will also be going to West Yorkshire Euro MP Dr Barry Seal.

Mrs Redpath says if the proposals go ahead children could be forced to change schools four times in four years. "Will that raise standards?" she asks.

Parents want to know what will happen to their children if the council gets its way and closes both Oldfield and Bront' Middle School which it feeds. Mrs Redpath says the query from everyone is where their children will go to school.

"Parents are upset and very angry," she says. "They want to know why Oldfield has been selected for closure when test results show standards - even for children with special needs - are well above the Bradford average, and in core subjects way above the national average."

Mrs Redpath warns that the threat of disruption to education is already causing some parents to consider sending their children to school in Laneshawbridge, near Colne, or Sutton-in-Craven.

Mrs Redpath was given heart at Tuesday's education committee meeting by Cllr Suzanne Rooney, the council's deputy education chairman who said the proposals were not yet set in stone and could be changed.

"I am delighted that the council has said this consultation is not a sham and that people are willing to listen," she says.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.