GOVERNORS are due to have talks over the controversial renaming of a village school, it emerged yesterday.

Parents were furious last week after it was revealed that a new £3m facility in Middleton St George, near Darlington, was to be called St Andrew's and St Laurence's Voluntary Aided Church of England School.

It will be built on the site of the current Middleton St George Primary School, which was hit by fire earlier this year.

The nearby Sadberge Primary School is closing and pupils from the village will be taught at the new site, which could open next year or in 2005.

But Middleton St George parents say the proposed name change will lose the school its village identity.

Their concerns have prompted the board of governors, which says the community voice will be heard, to call a special meeting for Monday night to discuss the matter.

Councillor Doris Jones, deputy chairman of governors, said: "We have got to discuss it further as governors. We agreed to go along with it on a temporary basis and knew we had the opportunity to change it at a later date."

She said governors were asked without warning for a possible new name for the school, so that funding bids could be made to various sources.

"There is a group of parents who are outraged about this and I can see where they're coming from, but there is a group of parents who are quite happy," she said.

"We do want to keep our identity and I sympathise with the objections that we have heard. We will have to consult with parents."

Parents were notified of the provisional change in a letter from the school last Friday, which said new logos and badges would be designed with the help of pupils.