VILLAGERS aim to show their school is at the heart of their community to prevent it closing.

Aycliffe Village Primary School is one of 23 being considered for closure by Durham County Council in a £300m education shake-up.

The council says it needs to reorganise schools in the county because of a large number of surplus places caused by the falling birth rate.

But an action group has already been formed in Aycliffe Village to fight any closure threat.

This week parents, teachers, governors and villagers attended a public meeting in the school hall to demonstrate the strength of their support for keeping the school open.

Sheila Palmerley, school places manager at Durham County Council, stressed that no firm proposals had been drawn up.

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 only at the stage where we are looking at the future and all the options open to us.

"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."

Villagers, who expressed strong support for the school, raised concerns that the council might have a hidden agenda to close the school and build houses on a prime site in the village, but this was denied.

Jenny Haigh, chairwoman of the action group, said: "We have got to show everybody that the school is at the heart of the village. We have 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."

She said: "We are working tirelessly and we will do our best to make sure we do everything in our power to keep this school open."

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