CAMPAIGNERS have vowed to continue their fight to save Ripple School near Deal after county councillors narrowly voted in favour of its closure.

Around 40 parents, staff and governors travelled to Maidstone’s County Hall for a crunch meeting on the future of Kent’s smallest primary school.

Before the meeting, they staged a protest outside the council offices. But their hopes of a reprieve were dashed when Conservative county councillors on KCC’s Schools’ Advisory Board voted to recommend its closure.

Despite the setback, campaigners say they are confident of eventually saving the school. They have also revealed they could seek a Judicial Review of the way KCC has acted over the planned closure.

Chairman of governors John Adams said: “We lost the vote but we have not lost the battle. There is still a long way to go. We are disappointed by the vote but not surprised. There are three more stages to come and I am confident that when an independent adjudicator looks at all the evidence, they will come down on our side.”

During a 90 minute debate, opposition councillors appealed to KCC to back off its closure plan.

Local Labour councillor Reg Hansell, a member of the board, told the meeting KCC would regret closing the school and future generations of children would lose out.

“We will be picking up the pieces from this in the future. Closure would affect every present and future child in the area. It is essential that children soak up education in a safe and secure environment, which is what this school provides. When these ingredients exist, children thrive.”

Education officials stood by their original claim that the size of the school – which has around 30 pupils – was making it increasingly difficult to deliver a balanced and broad curriculum.

The Conservative majority on the committee all supported closure and chairman Bill Hayton was forced to use his casting vote to push through the recommendation.

Cllr Valerie Dagger (Con) said the future population of the area meant pupil numbers at Ripple were unlikely to increase.

“The school will be struggling for numbers and arguably will not be sustainable. There is a strong case for closure,” she said.

There was anger at the vote after the meeting with the chairman of the school’s action group, Anthony Roberts, declaring: “If that was democracy, we might as well board up the school now.”