A secondary school described by primary head teachers as a place which "performs miracles" is preparing for "one hell of a fight" to stay open.

A consultation exercise into the closure of Culverhay School is due to begin in the autumn – and staff, pupils and the community have vowed to fight the council plans every step of the way.

Primary school head teachers in the Southdown and Twerton areas have backed the campaign to save the Rush Hill school, writing to Bath and North East Somerset Council to voice their concerns.

Dave Goucher, head of St Michael's Junior School in Twerton, and Teresa Austin, from Southdown Junior School, Culverhay's two main feeder primaries, said they were worried.

Their joint letter to children's services cabinet member Councillor Chris Watt says their own schools and Culverhay "are situated in the most deprived area of our local authority which brings along with it real challenges and difficulties".

It adds: "Culverhay has real expertise at addressing these challenges and adds exceptional value to its children and community alike.

"Culverhay performs miracles with the most challenging of pupils – we should both know because invariably they come from both of our schools."

Other heads calling for B&NES to reverse the decision it made at a packed cabinet meeting at the Guildhall last week are Sue Adams from Southdown Infants, Paul Mattausch-Burrows from Twerton Infants, Bridget Collett, who has just retired as head of Moorlands Infants this term, and Damian Knollys, interim head at Moorlands Junior.

Culverhay chair of governors Gerry Curran said it would be mobilising a campaign to fight the closure threat, which is the council's solution to a surplus places crisis.

He said: "We are prepared for one hell of a fight against the council's proposal to shut Culverhay and all the staff, pupils and community are fired up for this. I think people have really come alive to the fact that Culverhay is in real danger and they want to challenge that decision."

Culverhay head Richard Thomson added: "We remain optimistic that the school will prevail."

Past pupils have also come out in support of the school, including Oxford University graduate Luke Mansfield, who has gone on to have a high-flying career with electronics company Samsung. In a letter to the Chronicle he said: "I have done well in life and Culverhay may take a lion's share of the credit."

Meanwhile opposition politicians have forced the council to call a new meeting about the secondary schools reorganisation.

Twenty-seven Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors have triggered a formal review of the process by "calling in" the decision, saying a previous consultation exercise which did not flag up any threat to Culverhay's future was unfair.

Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Paul Crossley (Southdown) said: "Parents in Bath, particularly in the South West of the city, are feeling cheated by the decision of the Conservative cabinet last week, which bore no relation to the consultation upon which it was supposed to be based.

"The proposal to close Culverhay was simply not on the table before. In fact the consultation showed a clear plan to reopen it as a co-educational school.

"It seems the cabinet has only turned on Culverhay because other schools in Bath have taken independent actions to opt out of the reorganisation."

But the Conservatives have hit back, accusing the opposition of "playing politics" with children's education and not putting forward any viable alternatives of their own.

Group deputy leader Councillor Anthony Clarke said the closure was necessary to fix problems with the city's school system.

He said: "The plans agreed by cabinet would address the expensive surplus spaces situation in our city's secondary schools, increase the number of mixed-sex places available, and have the potential to mean every secondary pupil in Bath is educated in an outstanding rated school within the next few years.

"It's a pity that the Liberal Democrats in Bath are playing politics with an issue so important to many local residents. Their actions are putting at risk plans to deliver the education which parents in Bath have said they want."

No date has yet been set for the meeting of a council overview and scrutiny panel which will discuss the issue following the call-in. The cabinet and Mr Watt merely have to consider what is decided at that meeting, and the panel has no power to overturn last week's decision.

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