The protestors burst into council chambers and marched through to show their opposition to Building Schools for the Future (BSF) proposals.

Among the protestors were members of the Retain Education at Castle Hall (REACH) campaign who unfurled a banner reading 'Yes Yes Yes to CHS and MFG in Mirfield'.

Earlier they greeted councillors arriving at Huddersfield Town Hall with shouts of 'save our school'.

Under the proposals Castle Hall School would close and Mirfield Free Grammar expand.

Castle Hall pupil Jade Wilkinson, 15, told councillors: "Everybody is against these plans. Please don't rip the heart out of our community."
MFG headteacher Lorraine Barker said she would appeal to the Schools' Adjudicator if councillors pushed ahead with its plans.

She said: "The gloves are now off and we are ready for a bare knuckle fight."

REACH campaigner Simon Crowther said: "Is the intention of closing the highest achieving non-selective school a good way to start improving standards? Kirklees needs more schools like Castle Hall, not fewer."

But joint cabinet member for schools Coun John Smithson said Castle Hall was not as good a school as parents claimed.

Qualified town planner Lisa Sutcliffe said the idea that the MFG site could handle another 400 pupils was "at best putting the cart before the horse and at worst maladministration."

Her deputation was interrupted when Coun Smithson stormed out of the meeting after being told to stop eating.

Coun Ken Smith, joint cabinet member for schools, asked the meeting to bear in mind the fact his colleague was ill.

He also assured councillors that serious thought had gone into the expansion proposal.

In the two-hour debate that followed Mirfield councillors Vivien Lees and Martyn Bolt also condemned the plans.

Last Friday, Kirklees Council posted a statutory closure notice at Castle Hall and REACH marked the day by surrounding the school with a human chain.

Those present included headteacher Andy Pugh, MP Shahid Malik, Conservative parliamentary candidate Simon Reevell and Independent parliamentary candidate Khizar Iqbal.

REACH vice chairman Alan Wilkinson said they now planned to visit every home in Mirfield to urge them to write or email the council in the six-week representation period.

On July 31, the last day for representations, REACH members will walk from Mirfield to Huddersfield to present a petition which already had 2,000 signatures.

He said: "We are very confident that ultimately we will win this fight if we get the whole support of the community in writing letter and signing petitions."