Closure of Culverhay School in Bath recommended

The boys' school had wanted to reintroduce girls to stay open

A Bath school is expected to be closed, with no further admissions to Year 7 from September 2012.

The decision has been recommended despite 74% of respondents in a public consultation saying they were against Culverhay School closing.

Of the 346 respondents, 47% supported the overall plan to close one of the city's seven secondary schools.

The cabinet at Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) Council will consider the recommendation on 25 November.

The boys' school, which is about half full, had wanted to introduce girls.

A B&NES spokesman said the concerns highlighted in the consultation would be considered by the cabinet in reaching their final decision.

But the recommendation supports the council's wider plan to remove surplus places and redistribute the funding to other schools.

One alternative to closing the school was to make Culverhay a co-educational academy in partnership with Bath Spa University with the possibility of an all-through school for ages two to 19.

Another option was to reduce the admission numbers to all Bath secondary schools to 160, except Culverhay and St Mark's, and make Culverhay and Oldfield co-educational.

The cabinet voted in July to begin a consultation process with a view to shutting the school, but the decision was "called in" after 27 opposition councillors formally challenged the move.

A decision to recommend closing the school was upheld by the cabinet in August and the six-week consultation went ahead in September.