PARENTS have started a campaign to save a village school threatened with closure.

Beulah Primary School, along with neighbouring Trewen Primary School, could be shut as part of a review being carried out by Ceredigion County Council.

Both schools have been hit by falling pupil numbers and a recent report to the learning communities overview and scrutiny committee said that closing the two schools would save around £155,000.

Now parents with children at Beulah School are launching a campaign to get the council to change its mind.

Carol Pickover currently has a daughter in Year 2 and been involved as a parent at the school for more than 10 years.

“We are looking to work with the council to put the review on hold to enable us to come back with a long-term viable solution regarding the future of the school,” she said.

“The number of pupils attending Beulah school has not dropped in more than 18 months, despite the threat of closure hanging over the school since last November. This shows the closeness and commitment that the parents feel to keeping their local school open.

“We feel very strongly that we deserve to have a choice of different schools. Newer, larger schools are being built but this is a very rural area, with traditional villages and communities and we feel that ‘the one size fits all’ idea is not necessarily the best solution.

“The school celebrated its centenary last October and we learned so much about it and the whole village is proud of its history and tradition. It came as a complete surprise to hear eight weeks later that it had been put under review.

“The fight is now on for the future of Beulah School. We are aware it is a financial battle but we are convinced the school has a viable future.”

A website savebeulahschool.org has been set up to profile the school, provide regular updates regarding the campaign to keep Beulah open and to encourage new parents to come and join the traditional rural welsh medium school.

County councillor Lyndon Lloyd said: “There is a huge commitment in Beulah towards the school and we know we have to get more pupils in. I am fully behind the parents’ efforts and if we don’t launch this campaign now we might regret it later on.”