Campaigners have reacted with dismay to a report calling for the closure of a struggling school.

They believe education bosses have given up on East Brighton College of Media Arts (Comart) without really trying to find a solution.

A damning report into the school reveals Brighton and Hove City Council is recommending Comart be shut for good.

Kevin Dale, organiser of the Local Education Action Group, who has an 11-year-old daughter at the school in Whitehawk, said: "It's outrageous they are recommending this option.

"We are not surprised but it is totally short-sighted. They are not really looking at options to try to make the college work.

"I think most of us would support a full service school but we have already been told it's not an option."

Since the threat of closure was first leaked to The Argus in May, a question mark has been hanging over the future of Comart.

The school has suffered from falling student numbers, high truancy rates and low exam results for a number of years.

Education bosses maintained they were considering a range of options of which closure was just one.

Mr Dale said early on campaigners had realised Comart could not continue in it current form and had been keen to find alternatives.

He said: "We need to persuade people to go to the school. People feel like a decision has been made already. If, at the end of the consultation, they decided there was no interest and the school would have to close then fair enough but people want it to stay open."

Plans to launch a formal consultation on a proposal to close the school will be considered by Brighton and Hove councillors on September 8.

Councillor Pat Hawkes, chairwoman of the schools sub-committee, said: "Our absolute priority is to make sure children currently at Comart receive the best possible education.

"We've now looked in detail at a wide range of options for the future of the college and concluded, with considerable regret, closing the school and sending its pupils to other local schools is the only viable way forward.

"There will be considerable costs involved whether we close Comart or keep it open. But we believe the time may have come to say enough is enough."

Other options considered included retaining a smaller secondary school on the site in Wilson Avenue but this was shown not to be financially viable.

The proposed date of closure would be August 2005. Formal consultation would take place in September and October with a final decision to be made on December 1.

A final decision would be made by the independent Schools Organisation Committee and, if it could not make a unanimous decision, it would be referred to the Education Secretary.

Monday September 1, 2003