Parents are being urged to attend a protest against plans to amalgamate all three Catholic secondary schools in Bradford.

Education bosses want to close St Joseph's Catholic College for girls in Manningham, St Bede's Grammar School for boys in Heaton and Yorkshire Martyrs College in Tong and replace them with a co-educational secondary school.

The new school, which will be the biggest in Bradford, would be based at the St Bede's site in Heaton.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds, which owns the three schools, has announced the move because of fewer pupils. The three schools are set to close and be replaced with the new school in 2008.

The plan has angered a group of parents of children at Catholic primaries in the south of the city who want their children to go to Yorkshire Martyrs College.

And they are urging people to join them outside City Hall in Centenary Square tomorrow to protest against the move.

The group will be met by Councillor Phil Thornton, chairman of Bradford Council's Young People and Education Improvement Committee.

And organiser Sharon Ratnik has been invited to address the committee meeting tomorrow at 4.30pm after the protest.

She said: "We think this school is just far too big and the whole south of the city is not being catered for.

"It is unfair to expect parents to send their children to a school so far away from where they live.

"Bradford is a multi-cultural city but the Catholic diocese wants to remove all the places for pupils who aren't Catholics. For me this takes us back 60 years and is not what a lot of the parents want.

"To alienate Catholic children seems to be a backward step for Bradford's education system."

Mother-of-three Helen Solorz also wants her children to go to Yorkshire Martyrs College once they leave St Columba's.

She said: "My biggest concern is the sheer size of the school. There will be 3,000 pupils going there initially. My son is behind in his learning and I don't think going to a school this big will suit him."

Her son is in Year Four and will be due to move to secondary school when the changes come into place.

She said it would be difficult to get him to a new school at St Bede's while her other two children are attending St Columba's Primary School at the other side of the city.

And she said she feared her children would miss out on after-school activities because they live so far away.

Coun Thornton said: "I have real concerns about closing such a big school in Bradford and the destabilising effect it will have on the whole community.

"I am interested in what parents have to say and when I found out they were planning to do this protest on the same day as the committee meeting we decided to invite them to speak to hear their concerns."

"This move will have a very significant impact on education provision in the whole of south of Bradford."

The protest is due to take place at 4pm and the Young People and Education Improvement Committee meeting at 4.30pm The Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds's consultation process over its plans will run until September.

No-one from the diocese was available for comment.

e-mail: john.roberts@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

  • See Our View