PARENTS who have set up their own school in their battle with education chiefs today vowed to keep on fighting to get their children into the high school of their choice.

They have started up a class for six 11-year-olds in a chapel in Briercliffe while the fight to get places for the youngsters at Mansfield High School, Brierfield, rages on.

The pupils are being taught by four volunteer teachers and a timetable has been set up with lessons covering subjects such as history, maths, science and geography.

Stan Glassbrook, whose daughter Melissa is one of those at the unofficial school, said: "We're prepared to carry on until the situation is resolved. This is just a start. The school has only been going a week. We're building on it all the time.

"Legally we have to provide our children with an education which is what we're doing. It doesn't have to follow the National Curriculum although we're trying to stick as closely as possible to it so that when the children do go to high school they won't be too far behind the others. We're making sure the core subjects are covered."

The church owner has asked that its name not be mentioned because of fears that there may be "problems" although the parents say they are being backed in their fight by the local community. The parents are angry at being refused places at Mansfield for their children, even though they claim there are classroom seats available.

"If we didn't feel there was room for them at Mansfield we wouldn't be doing this," said Mr Glassbrook.

Since the Briercliffe school was set up one of the original pupils has won a place at Mansfield, leaving six others "in limbo" waiting for the education authority to decide their future.

Deborah Marsden, whose daughter Natalie is 12 on Sunday, said: "The education authority would be prolonging the children's agony, not us, if they were sent to a school they don't want to go to. It is not interested in whether they're happy or not. "Their best friends have gone to Mansfield and they want to be there too. It's not that they don't want to go to school, it's just they want to be at Mansfield.

"We're not happy with the situation but we don't feel there's any alternative."

The children were offered places at Edge End in Nelson and Barden in Burnley but their parents did not feel the schools were suitable. One of the things that has infuriated parents is that Briercliffe has traditionally been a feeder area for Mansfield. Their children had been visiting the school once a week for the final two years of primary school to help them get used to high school life.

The Ombudsman is set to meet with education chiefs to discuss the situation.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.