FURIOUS students have vowed to go on strike if education leaders ignore their petition against proposals to merge two Crewe secondary schools.

The amalgamation of Victoria Community Technology School and Coppenhall High School onto the Coppenhall site is one of a raft of proposals to reform the borough's education landscape.

The proposed reforms, which would affect 21 of the borough's schools, have been met with dismay by a number of students, parents and community leaders.

At Victoria, feelings are running so high that a petition against the plans has so far been signed by 400 people.

And if the petition is ignored, the students have promised to put down their pens and stop working in protest.

School prefect Ben Morris, aged 15, said: "We've been doing a petition to stop this from going ahead, and so far we've got around 400 signatures from students, a couple of members of staff and members of the community.

"We're all so disappointed with the plans, and if nothing is done with this petition, a group of us, including some prefects, have agreed to go on strike at the start of next term.

"That would involve attending school but refusing to do work - that's how strongly we feel about this."

Classmate Vicky Humphries added: "We've worked so hard to get to where we are, and this has taken the smiles off our faces.

"We're going to fight this all the way, and we've already had loads of signatures - it's much too good a school to be closed."

The county council proposals would also lead to the closure of three schools, including Lodgefields County Primary School, while four primary schools would be formed by the amalgamation of four pairs of infant and junior schools.

The suggestions emerged following six months of discussions between county council officials and key stakeholders in local education, and have been made in response to falling pupil numbers and a surplus of school places.

Victoria's headteacher Mark Stanyer said: "Everyone is very shocked and upset.

"We have made massive improvements, but while we are extremely disappointed, the fact that we could amalgamate to produce a new school is very exciting.

"If we can have a brand new school built out of this, that can only be to the benefit of the community, and we would work with the local community to be at the forefront of that."

Nobody from Coppenhall High School was available for comment.