ANGRY students have launched a campaign after their college said ‘arrivederci’ to Italian classes.

Teenagers from Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh have been told that the course will end in September and that those who want to carry on will have to join after-school classes.

But the move, blamed on financial pressures and low student take-up, has led to a backlash among those currently enjoying the course. Now, Romsey teenager Becca Eustis is leading calls for the decision to be reversed.

The 17-year-old said: “One of our best teachers is losing their job because of it and students are going to be disrupted.

“I don’t think it is fair – we really benefit from having small class sizes too.

“We just have to work as hard as possible to change the situation and appeal to the governors.

“Universities are really hungry for Italian speakers and doing classes after school is not really a practical option.”

Becca said that about 23 pupils were currently taking Italian at the college – but this will come to an end at the beginning of the next academic year.

Head teacher Jonathan Prest said that free after-school classes would help to keep disruption to a minimum, and confirmed that there would be one redundancy.

He added: “It is a subject that is making a considerable loss for the college and that is because of numbers. The language department is still thriving in French, Spanish and German.”