YOUNG pupils at one of west Suffolk’s top-performing middle schools are heartbroken at the prospect of its closure.

Children at St Louis Middle School in Bury St Edmunds have been shaken by news the school is expected to close in 2013.

Sarah Truman, a parent with two children at the Catholic school, said: “My son is tearful because he didn’t want his teachers to lose their jobs. They love this school and the thought of losing it is heartbreaking.”

News of the closure emerged on Tuesday as parents received letters from the East Anglia Diocesan Schools’ Service saying the school would be axed.

Rated “outstanding” by Ofsted in a report this year, the school will be shut and pupils absorbed into a two-tier system to tie in with schools across the Catholic pyramid.

Mrs Truman, whose sons Jake, 13, and Sam, nine, attend the school, said parents would not take the closure lightly. “We have the best teaching staff in Bury,” she said. “It is totally wrong to lose one of our best schools. I hope parents will get something moving.”

Headteacher Anne Mansfield said the school had held special assemblies for students on Tuesday to tell them about the closure.

“Everybody is very sad,” she said. “I can’t praise the staff enough – the determination they have shown to keep St Louis going and being the very special school it is. We all want the very best for the children’s education.”

St Benedict’s Catholic School in Bury will become an 11-18 school and the town’s St Edmunds school will become a primary for children aged four to 11. Mrs Mansfield said the school’s “outstanding” Ofsted rating had come as a “real boost” but the closure news had been a blow.