PARENTS have launched a campaign to fight the possible amalgamation of two primary schools in Stockton.

English Martyrs RC Primary School and St Peter and St Paul RC Primary School make provision for Roman Catholic pupils aged three to 11, mainly from the Hardwick, Mile House and Roseworth areas of the town.

The possible amalgamation is being discussed after it was revealed that the number of children attending Roman Catholic schools is declining.

In January, the number of pupils, excluding nursery children, at English Martyrs was 113. At St Peter and St Paul it was 170.

In the next ten years, the rolls are expected to be down to 77 and 140 respectively.

Now parents of youngsters at St Peter and St Paul are to fight to save the school.

John Saint, who has two children at the school, said: "We are extremely unhappy about the prospect of losing our school.

"I and many other parents intend to fight to save our school. We do not envisage this to be an easy task, but nonetheless we will do all we can to save it.

"We do not want to lose the school's identity. We have very strong links with the local community and church and we do not want to lose them."

The amalgamation of the schools would create a 210 place, purpose-built RC-aided primary school to provide for pupils in north-west Stockton, which would be on a more central site.

Mr Saint said: "We realise we would be offered a state-of-the-art school, but we are still very much concerned.

"The new location would be on Ketton Road, right near to the University Hospital of North Tees, which is already heavily congested with traffic and has lots of parking restrictions.

"Time is now precious to save our school."

The campaigners hope to hold a meeting in September with representatives from the borough council, local education authority and diocese, to see where they go next.

Mr Saint said: "After the meeting we will have a clearer idea of what is going on and then our fight will really start."