AS St Aidan's CE Primary School in Clock Face proudly boasted of "phenomenal results" in national tests, the Local Education Authority announced that the school was threatened with possible closure.

The Star can reveal that the council's executive committee has decided to go ahead with a public consultation process which will consider potentially closing the school in August, 2002.

The announcement follows an initial review of primary schools in two areas of the borough so that money can be better targeted to improve resources across its schools.

While Year 2 pupils at St Aidan's produced "outstanding results" in their Key Stage 1 SATS tests, the school faces closure as the LEA has been forced to respond to the growing problem of surplus places in primary schools throughout the borough.

It is reported that the school, which currently has about 120 pupils, has been admitting less than 20 pupils each year for the past four years and the LEA believes it is not likely to attract enough pupils to alter its current situation.

But the school's governing body, led by the Reverend Martin Thorpe, defended St Aidan's, saying that there is evidence for growth in pupil numbers: "These outstanding results show that St Aidan's is able to deliver the high standards and top quality of education that our parents want for their children. Parents and the local community are outraged by the council's threat to close the school which would take away parents' choice to decide to send their children to a local Church of England school. St Aidan's is the only major community facility in Clock Face village and provides excellent education for adults at the school through St Helens College as well as social events for the community. With lots of new houses being built in the area our numbers are set to rise significantly over the next few years."

If the closure goes ahead, parents may be forced to send their children to Willow Tree Primary School, or to other schools such as Sutton Manor, which are further away.

Concerned parent Mark Talbot, whose son Jonathan is in Year 1 at the school, stressed that parents will fight to keep the school open and said that he may refuse to send his son to another school. He said: "Willow Tree already has 30 pupils in each class so if children from St Aidan's are sent there as well, it will be overcrowded and I don't want to send Jonathan to a school almost three miles away".

Parents are now organising marches to demonstrate against the closure of the school, and a petition already has hundreds of signatures. The local church also opposes the closure.

St Helens Council stresses that there will be a full consultation between governors, parents, staff and churches before any decision is taken.

There will be a public meeting when objections to closure will be noted on Tuesday July 10 at 7pm at the school and objections to closure or comments on the future of the school need to be sent in writing to: Mr John Skinley, Forward Planing Section, The Rivington Centre, Rivington Road, St Helens, WA10 4ND.