PARENTS have slammed a decision to shut a college down.

Hameldon Community College in Burnley will close on August 31 next year following a unanimous vote in favour of the decision by councillors at Lancashire County Council’s cabinet meeting yesterday.

The decision comes following decade-long concerns over the school’s performance after it received an inadequate rating from Ofsted back in 2007.

The Coal Clough Lane college is now in financial debt and there are now fewer than 200 pupils in a school built for 750, according to Lancashire County Council’s cabinet member for schools Susie Charles.

Parents have slammed the decision to close the college as ‘ridiculous’ and are concerned their children will be taken away from their school friends and future education prospects harmed.

There will now be a phased closure of the school, which will be implemented from August 31 this year, to minimise disruption to pupils.

Pupils currently in Years 7, 8 and 9 will move to different schools for the start of the new term in September 2018. The current Year 11 pupils will be unaffected by this decision and will leave the school in July 2018.

Specific arrangements have been made for current Year 10 pupils to complete their Key Stage 4 education and their GCSE exams at the school. The pupils this affects would leave the school in July 2019.

At the meeting, County Cllr Charles said: “I’m conscious of the distress and disruption any school closure causes and we will do all we can to help with this.

“I’d like to reassure parents of our firm intention and commitment to providing the best possible educational experience to all of our young people.”

More than 150 parents are members of Save Hameldon, a group set up to save the school from closure. Mum-of-three and founding member Mary Fleming, 35, of Rossendale Road, attended the meeting in Preston.

She said she doesn’t know which school her son Kosworth, 13, who is in Year 9 and has special needs, will go next.

She said: “We have worked so hard and tirelessly and thought it would make a difference and at least give us a chance. The decision to close the school has been made regardless of what the parents want. It’s ridiculous.

“My son will have to move schools and because he has special needs it makes things more difficult.”

Another parent has said their son is refusing to go to school at all if he can’t stay at Hameldon College.

Burnley MP Julie Cooper said: “It’s a sad day for Burnley and particularly for the pupils who are being educated at Hameldon. The parents of the school will be absolutely devastated.

"We need to now make sure these children are offered a high-quality alternative because you only get one chance in life.”