DOZENS of distraught children have made an emotional 11th-hour plea to the Education Secretary to save their closure-threatened free school.

Fifty-six of the 94 pupils at Durham Free School (DFS) have written personal, heartfelt letters to Nicky Morgan, begging her to change her mind and spare its funding.

Student Jessica Goodwin, 12, wrote: “What are you trying to do to our school?

“Is it really worth breaking these students’ hearts just to get election votes?”

Chelsea Peat, 11, said she cried when she heard her school was to be closed.

It is just two weeks since Ms Morgan’s shock announcement she intended to close the controversial new Christian academy and the deadline for responses is tomorrow (Tuesday, February 3).

Since then, Ofsted has accused DFS leaders of tolerating racism, sexism and homophobia and Pat Glass MP said the Durham City secondary had become a “haven for every crap teacher in the North-East”.

Acting headteacher Julian Eisner said his staff felt maligned and his pupils were very angry, but a wartime spirit had emerged.

He said: “The children are calm and the staff are very professional. They know they have a huge amount of support.

“My staff are utterly bewildered by the way the whole thing has been handled and the extraordinary way the school and its community have been maligned.

“I know these children, I know the staff, and I feel a great injustice has been done.”

Asked whether he thought the school would survive, Mr Eisner said: “We hope the letters will be taken into account when the decision is made.”

Behind the scenes, school trustees are taking confidential legal advice on the little-known closure process.

The Department for Education (DfE) has not confirmed when a final decision will be announced, but it is expected soon.

At the Gilesgate school today (Monday, February 2), pupils gathered in their lunch break to show off their protest letters.

Ben Hall said: “I hope she (Ms Morgan) listens and keeps our school open. We’re like one big family.”

Sophie Dinning, 12, said she had many happy memories of the school and was not ready to move.

Jordana Parker said: “There isn’t a single bully in this school. The lessons are really interesting and we learn lots. If it closed, we would have to be separated from all our friends.”