Save St Ambrose Barlow Catholic High School in Netherton

St Ambrose Barlow Catholic High School plans to shut in summer 2016 under closure plans drawn up by the Archdiocese of Liverpool.

As a former pupil and a mum who has a child at the school, this is very close to my heart and our community's heart. We have a great support group and we our trying our hardest to help the school what ever way we can.

The church said the school only has half the budget of an average secondary school and falling pupil numbers means it is unable to stay open.

However, we need to provide our children with a Catholic feeder school in the Netherton area as there is no other school nearby. If the school closes we will be forced to put our children on public transport, which is expensive and not as safe.

There are 384 pupils at the school and 64 children are due to start this September, 20 of whom are Catholic — showing that the school is an important part of the community, not only for Catholic families.

The Archdiocese and the council have pointed to the lack of Government funding, increasing costs, falling pupil numbers along with increased expectations on pupil attainment as reasons for the school closure.

As such, we call on the Government to provide adequate funding for this school which is an essential part of our community.