A new Catholic school is to be created in Oxford - tying up the final loose ends in the reorganisation of the city's schools.

Oxfordshire County Council's School Organisation Committee agreed yesterday to close Cardinal Newman Middle School and St Augustine of Canterbury Upper School and replace them with a new school on the Cardinal Newman site in Cricket Road, Cowley.

The closure of St Augustine's means there will be no joint-denomination Catholic-Anglican school in Oxford after the idea was rejected by Catholic representatives.

A name has not been chosen for the new school that will accommodate 500 Catholic pupils from Cardinal Newman and a further 600 from St Augustine's from the age of 11 to 18.

It will open in September, 2003, by which time a programme of extending the existing school buildings to accommodate the new pupils should be completed. Council officers said this would be possible without building on playing fields.

Protestant pupils currently at St Augustine's will be given the choice to continue studying at the new school or transfer to another school in Oxford.

Plans to create a new Anglican school in the city will be considered by the council at a later date.

It was also decided to change the age ranges at Our Lady's, St Aloysius, St Joseph's and St John Fisher First Schools from three to nine to three to 11.

Robert Capstick, principal county education officer, said: "The two denominations have reached an agreement which means we will not need to go to an independent adjudicator.

"This conclusion means that the last piece in the reorganisation jigsaw has fallen into place."