THE fight to save a school from closure nearly descended into chaos last night, when more than 1,500 people turned up to support the campaign.

Tempers frayed as hundreds of people faced being turned away from the meeting to keep St Peter’s Catholic College of Maths and Computing, in South Bank, near Middlesbrough, open.

An independent government- appointed adjudicator heard residents express their anger at Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council’s controversial decision, which would force pupils to travel seven miles to Sacred Heart RC School, in Redcar.

The sheer volume of people desperate to have their say in Eston City Learning Centre, resulted in hundreds of people trooping a quarter-of-amile to hold the meeting in the sports hall of the beleaguered school.

Raw emotion could be heard in the voices of the audience who were given the chance to vent their frustration and attempt to persuade the adjudicator to reverse the council’s decision.

Former deputy head girl at the school, Jessica Robinson, said: “It is a total and utter shame to be closing down a school like this. People love coming here, they feel safe and the standard of education is excellent.”

John Snowball, whose five children all attended the school, said: “How the council can close this school is beyond belief.

“We are looking around and wanting to know why they are determined to close it when it is doing so well.”

One parent, who was close to tears as he addressed the packed hall, said: “We just want this school to stay open.

If it closes it will rip the heart out of the Catholic community in South Bank.”

Adjudicator Alan Parker reassured the crowd that he would consider all of their concerns prior to reaching a decision before the end of next month.

Speaking after the meeting, acting headteacher Pamela Hanrahan said: “I was absolutely over the moon with the amount of people who turned out to speak their minds – it just shows how much this school means to the community.”

And Caroline Carsley, who led the call for the meeting to be moved, said: “It was absolutely ridiculous that they tried to fit so many people into the hall, it was never going to be big enough and people were getting very frustrated.”

Anyone wanting to comment on the proposed closure has until next Wednesday to contact the Office of the Schools Adjudicator on 0870- 0012-468 or email lisa.short@osa.gsi.gov.uk