At a meeting at County Hall, Councillor Joan Kirkbride (Con, Bugbrooke), Northamptonshire County Council's cabinet member for children and young people, chose to begin a six-week period of consultation that could end with the school reopening as an academy in September.

The publication of a statutory notice for closure on Friday, February 6, will signal the beginning of the process, during which formal representations can be made to the council.

At the end of this period the council's cabinet will make a decision on whether or not to close the school and at the same time the Secretary of State for children, schools and families will make a decision about the opening of an academy, which would specialise in maths and English.

Councillor Kirkbride said: "Unity College has been singled out by the government as a National Challenge school because of its poor GCSE results and Ofsted has placed the school in special measures. It is imperative that changes are made to the school to improve the outcomes for the students of Unity College.

"The consultation is essential to ensure that the right decision is made about the future of the school and I hope everyone who has an interest in the school will take part".

Councillor Kirkbride heard from concerned parents, students and teachers at the meeting yesterday who all voiced their opposition to plans to close the school and criticised the handling of the consultation process so far.

Ian Cooper, a teacher at Unity said: "Unity College needs a long-term plan to provide the staff and students with a future. The current proposal is short-sighted, ill-advised, and badly thought out.

"Becoming an academy papers over the cracks but does not fix the problems."

The sponsor of the proposed academy is a partnership of the Church of England Diocese, Northamptonshire County Council, Moulton College and Bishop Stopford School.