A RURAL primary school threatened with closure is opening its doors to show what it has to offer.

Battling parents and governors at St Oswald's Worleston CE Primary School say county councillors should 'come and see what high quality education in a small rural school looks like' before making any final decisions.

Proposals to go ahead with formal consultations on closing St Oswald's, Buerton Primary and Lodgefields Community Primary in Crewe were approved in December.

Cheshire County Council has announced a shake-up to tackle falling birthrates and falling rolls.

Parent governor Fiona Haywood said: 'We need to show our school is financially viable to keep it open.

'The open day will show we have a healthy mix of pupils from inside and outside Worleston.

'As many as 34 of our children would be moved to Acton school if St Oswald's closed, which would mean extra building work and twice daily buses to a school five miles away.

'All these factors impact on our environment and our children's wellbeing. The county wants to close a high performing Church of England school in a fragile rural community.

'Councillors should come along to our school to see for themselves what we could be losing.'

The school also has backing from a body protecting small schools dubbed the 'hub of rural communities'.

The National Association for Small Schools (NASS) national co-ordinator Mervyn Benford says the proposals by county chiefs 'don't add up'.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has also criticised the plans. Its representative, the Rev John Whitehead, said: 'This school has every right to be very much a part of transforming well-educated and soundly-based citizens of the future.'

The open day at St Oswald's in Church Road, Worleston is on February 11 from 10.30am to 12.30pm.