The school was founded in 1932 by the Christian Brothers

The local council is proposing to shut all its secondaries, many of which perform badly, and reopen 12 new ones.

One of those in the frame is a Catholic selective school, St Joseph's College. It could not reopen as a grammar and perhaps not even as a faith school.

Parents are up in arms and pupils are organising online petitions.

Stoke's restructuring is part of the government's Building Schools for the Future refurbishment programme.

'Opportunity'

Its informal consultation says: "Some areas of the city that once had lots of young people now have fewer and other areas of the city are due to have new homes built.

"To make sure that we have the right size schools in the right places, we have looked again at the number and location of all secondary schools. Some changes are needed."

It says it is trying to avoid, "a two-tier system, where some schools are perceived as being better than others by virtue of their name, facilities or governance."

The city's elected mayor, Mark Meredith, said: "This is a golden opportunity for our children.

"Never before has one city had the chance to remake its secondary education system all at once like this. We must not let it slip."

Oversubscribed

But St Joseph's feels it is being unjustly caught up in the wider plan.

It is not a straightforward academically selective school.

The head teacher, Roisin Maguire, said that rather than having a test to select only the brightest, its entrance exam could be passed by a majority of children in the area.

The standard is such that 95% of those who pass will expect to achieve at least an average of Level 4 in their Key Stage 2 national curriculum tests - the attainment the government expects for that age.

Almost all of those who sit it do succeed, Ms Maguire said - and places in the heavily oversubscribed school are then allocated on its other criteria.

These admit practising Catholics first - which accounts for about three quarters of its intake - then children practising other faiths.

The law prohibits the opening of selective schools. So if St Joseph's were to close it believes it could not reappear as a grammar school.

'Penalised'

Its faith status dates back to 1932 when it was founded by the Christian Brothers.

It is not a diocesan school - and the local Roman Catholic archdiocese has said it already has enough capacity with two other Catholic schools in the area, Ms Maguire said.

"But we are not fighting on the Catholic issue," she told BBC News.

"We are one of the top performing schools in the country."

Her pupils felt they were being punished for excellence.

"They feel absolutely incensed."

The head - described as "outstanding" by Ofsted - said wholesale reorganisation was the wrong strategy.

"You deal with underperformance where the underperformance is. The people who want to close all the schools tend to be in failing schools.

"I say to them, 'I object to my school being penalised for your underperformance'."

A spokesman for the Department for Children said the supply of school places was a matter for the local authority.