Pupils have protested against the city council's plans

Campaigners are preparing a legal case claiming the city council was wrong to close Trentham High School.

Councillor Ian McLaughlan said a legal case would prolong the uncertainty hanging over the city's schools.

But headteacher Sue Chesterton said the decision was based on the school's past rather than current performance.

She added that no education officials had visited the school during the past 12 months.

'Costly exercise'

She said: "I do feel that they have not given proper consideration to Trentham.

"I think they've based their decision on the past of Trentham High School, not the present and not the future."

Bur Mr McLaughlan, who is overseeing the council's plans, said this was not the case.

He said: "Most of the schools across the city have improved in the last year, so we have to look at what's happened in the past over more than 12 months and also what's going to happen in the next 10-15 years.

"From my point of view [a legal challenge] would obviously be a very costly exercise for both parties and it only looks at the process not the outcome.

'Prolong uncertainty'

"So if the process is found to be faulty, which I don't believe it was, then we would simply have to run the whole process again.

"That would only prolong the uncertainty not just for Trentham but for every single school in the city as well."

Under the council's plans, eight schools - St Peter's, Mitchell, Berry Hill, James Brindley, Edensor, Trentham, Blurton and Brownhills - will merge into five academies.