A FORMAL closure notice for Beardwood High School has been published - but campaigners say the fight to save it "goes on".

Statutory notices published yesterday announce the changes proposed under the £150m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme in Blackburn with Darwen.

In September, the borough council announced its final plans for the Government-funded project to overhaul secondary education in the borough.

The most controversial proposal is to close Beardwood in Preston New Road, due to a predicted fall in pupil numbers in west Blackburn, and the site's "limited potential" for BSF development.

Under the plans, students and staff will be moved to other state secondaries, including three new "superschools" to be built on the sites of Witton Park and Pleckgate High Schools, and a new East Blackburn Community School in Haslingden Road, which will replace Blakewater College.

Tauheedul Islam Girls' High School would move to the vacated Beardwood site and more than double in pupil numbers.

The council's plans, which are currently awaiting Government approval, have prompted passionate campaigns from both parents and pupils at Beardwood, who have hung "Save Our School" banners at the school's entrance.

The official notices detailing the proposals will be advertised in schools and the press.

But David Smith, spokesman for parents' campaign group Beardwood Family Action, said campaigners would not give in.

Mr Smith, whose four children are former and present Beardwood pupils, said: "The fight goes on.

"This proposal is bad for Beardwood and bad for Blackburn.

"The BSF program is flawed as the quality of education in a school is not a determining factor."

As well as Beardwood, education chiefs plan to shut Fernhurst Special School and reduce the number of pupils at Crosshill Special School, which would be co-located on the East Blackburn Community School.

There is now a six-week period for people to respond to these proposals, and a four-week response period for people to comment on the planned changes in pupil numbers at the new East Blackburn Community School, and at Tauheedul.

The council's executive board will make a final decision on the proposals in January.