PARENTS fighting to keep open a tiny village school believe they have scored their best chance yet to save it, despite a report saying it can be lawfully closed.

Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet will vote tomorrow on whether to press ahead with a planned closure of Culham Parochial Primary School at the end of August, or whether its governors’ rescue plan is good enough to let it stay open.

The 26-pupil school is under threat because of falling numbers, a budget deficit, and the lack of a permanent head.

In February, councillors gave the school a stay of execution, saying that if governors managed to meet three criteria, it could be saved.

They were told to find a full-time headteacher or link permanently to another school by September 1, show they could run a balanced budget for three years, and demonstrate there was a permanent demand for more than 40 pupil places.

A council report drawn up for tomorrow’s crunch meeting said campaigners had tried to solve, but had not fully met, the conditions.

Two attempts to recruit a qualified head have failed, but acting headteacher Matthew Attree has been asked to continue to lead the school, taking the role permanently if he completes the required qualifications.

The council papers say: “The arrangement clearly does not meet the letter of the condition prescribed by the cabinet in February, and, if implemented, would constitute a further period of interim arrangements.”

The report added: “There can be no guarantee that the acting headteacher will achieve (the necessary qualification) nor that he will remain with the school for the three year duration of the recovery plan.”

But officers said Mr Attree would be capable of providing the leadership Culham needs.

They also say the school faces a £25,000 deficit, and must show it can raise the cash to return to a balanced budget.

But Save Culham School chairman Kit Thomas, a parent at the school, said: “This is the most positive document we have had out of the council.

“We feel that we have presented a robust enough plan... to persuade them to abandon the consultation for closure.

“We have heard nothing to undermine our confidence that we have met them.”

He said if councillors did vote to close the 160-year-old school, campaigners planned to appeal direct to the Department for Education.

And, if necessary, parents would fight the planned closure at the European Court of Human Rights.