Battling parents have launched a campaign to save their village school from closure.

Staff and parents were devastated when Bradford Council announced last week that it was proposing to shut Tong Park First School as part of its move to a two-tier system of education.

But with the Council saying no school closures are yet laid in stone, parents have vowed to fight the proposal and are planning a series of high-profile protests during a third round of public consultation, which runs until May 29.

A huge Save Our School banner is set to be seen by thousands of motorists after it is attached to the school fence, which fronts on to the busy A6038 Otley Road, today.

And banner-waving parents are also planning to protest outside the school gates when their children return after the Easter holiday on Monday, April 20.

Meanwhile, a petition opposing Tong Park's closure has been launched and has already been signed by more than 250 people.

Julie Brannan, who lives in nearby Esholt Lane and is a committee member with the Tong Park Association, has two children - Katie, eight, and Joe, three - attending the school and its nursery unit.

She said: "We've got a lot of support from local residents, not just parents, because they have very strong links with the school which is Tong Park's only real community focal point.

"I just think it is totally wrong because it is a very good school with excellent teachers and small classes which the children feel confident in.

"If the pupils do get moved to a new primary school at Ladderbanks it will be too big and intimidating, and if they get split up and moved to different schools it will be very traumatic for them.

"We've got room to expand and there is no reason at all why the school couldn't cater for up to 11-year-olds as it did before middle schools came in.

"Our other big fear is that if it closes, the site will be sold off for housing which will make the traffic problems down here even worse."

Tong Park's chairman of governors, Ray Shilling, whose son Matthew, eight, is a pupil there, said: "The prime objective of the review was to improve the quality of education in Bradford but they just seem to be proposing to close the older and smaller schools.

"Tong Park is an old school but is very cost effective to run. We have got strong links with the community and an active PTA which raises £3,000 a year.

"We get good SAT results and are also in the middle of an Ofsted inspection - the day all this was announced the head had her first meeting with the inspector."

Mr Shilling said he was confident Tong Park would get a good Ofsted report but questioned whether the proposal to close it had put the quality of education first.

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