VILLAGERS will prove their school is the heart of their community in a bid to prevent its closure.

Aycliffe Village Primary School is one of 23 in the county which has been earmarked for possible closure in a £300m education shake-up.

Durham County Council said it had to re-organise its schools because of a large number of surplus places caused by a falling birth rate.

An action group has been formed in Aycliffe Village to fight the potential closure.

Parents, teachers, governors and villagers packed the school hall for a public meeting on Monday.

Governors have until Friday, July 18, to present their case to retain the school before more detailed plans are published.

Jenny Haigh, chairman of the action group, said: "We have got to show everybody that the school is at the heart of the village. We've got to show people that we use it, but we could use it more.

"We have to show our vision of the future and how we can make the school more obviously the centre of the community."

At the meeting villagers raised concerns that the county council may have a hidden agenda to close the school and build houses on what is a prime site in the village.

Mrs Haigh said: "We're working tirelessly and we will do our best to make sure we do everything in our power to keep this school open."

People are being urged to write to Tony Blair and the county council and to sign a petition, which can be accessed on the group's web site at www.saveourschool.org.uk

Sheila Palmerley, school places manager at Durham County Council, said no firm proposals had yet been made.

She said a number of factors had to be taken into account and promised that the views of the community would be taken very seriously.

She said: "I can't say this strongly enough - there are no proposals to close any schools. We are looking at the future and all the options.

"We do not have a hit list, some people call it a secret list and say we are just going through this exercise for the fun of it, but we would never put people through this if we had a list."