SCHOOL governors have rejected a call from parents to make more room for their children.

The campaign group Coxhoe Kids in Coxhoe School is pressing for the capacity of the village primary school to be increased so that all youngsters who want a place get one, instead of having to travel to neighbouring village schools.

The problem has been caused by housing development in the village, coupled with the Government's policy of a 30-pupil maximum class size.

However, the governors have told the group they are reluctant to raise the number of children joining the reception class this autumn from 30.

In a letter, they said: "The educational standards across the whole school would be impaired as mixed age and even mixed key stage classes would, as a consequence, have to be taught.''

The governors are also concerned that school planning would be upset and that the school would have to fund 20 per cent of the cost of employing another teacher and that extra pupils would stretch limited resources.

However, the governors said they are "supportive of the action group's concerns'' and urge Durham County Council to solve the problem.

Action group spokesman Peter Dodsworth said many schools successfully ran mixed age and key stage classes, including neighbouring Kelloe Primary, which some Coxhoe children attend.

"If the action group was to accept the statement of the governors, then by sending our children elsewhere, the county council is impairing the education of our children.''

He said the group believed the school had the funding to employ an extra teacher and that accommodation problems could be overcome.

"The action group concludes that the governing body have taken the soft option to these very hard issues.

"We will continue to lobby the county council to ensure the group's aims are achieved."