STUDENTS have joined together to protest against the possible closure of a school’s sixth form.

The Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA) announced it could be shutting its sixth form sometime between 2020 and 2022.

But many of the school’s students have expressed their disappointment at the news, and a petition has been started to keep the sixth form open.

One of PACA’s Year 11 students, Lily Jenman, 16, started the petition and said: “The closure would mean that current Year 9, 10 and 11 students will not be able to attend the sixth form.

“Not only is this shocking news to the community, but also to the Year 11 students such as myself who are now approaching their GCSEs and are left confused as to why an open evening for the sixth form was held in the first place.

“Many students this year who have decided to place PACA as their first choice are now left in a position in which they are either applying late to other colleges or are unable to focus on current work due to the fact PACA Sixth Form was the place for them.”

She said that, with just over two months remaining until Year 11 students are set to take their GCSE exams, the situation for students had become “stressful and concerning”.

In a statement, PACA’s principal Mark Poston said that the school was considering the closure as predicted enrolment numbers were too low to offer a full curriculum.

Miss Jenman said: “This seems critical to many of our students and members of the local community as supposedly numbers haven’t been sufficient for three years, and only now when their numbers are increasing have they decided to close it.

“PACA Sixth Form’s selling point is that it is a small, local, community college and that it was never in competition with BHASVIC or Varndean, and yet suddenly it seems they were expecting a huge increase in numbers which was clearly never attainable.”

The petition, called Save PACA Sixth Form, has been signed by hundreds of people.