The Hands Around the School event took place on Friday 19th June. Around 1000 parents, pupils, teachers, residents, local councillors and supporters of Castle Hall School joined hands to form a human chain all the way round the school to protest against Kirklees cabinet’s plans to close it and expand Mirfield Free Grammar. The event was organised by REACH to coincide with the Kirklees Council’s posting of statutory closure notices and the start of the six week representation period.


Joining in to show their support for the school and the REACH campaign were Mirfield councillors Martyn Bolt and Vivien Lees and Dewsbury and Mirfield MP Shahid Malik.
The demonstration attracted good press coverage and was featured on both the BBC Look North and ITV Calendar news programmes.