CHILDREN at Northcourt Primary School at Gravesend have received bleak tidings this Christmas. Their school may have to close next year.

Kent County Council has recommended carrying out a public consultation on its proposal to close the school in Dickens Road with effect from September 2003.

The decision was taken after Ofsted inspectors put the school into special measures for the second time in four years.

Inspectors visited the school for three days in October and found it had serious weaknesses including an unsatisfactory standard of education, a lack of leadership and poor pupil behaviour.

Places are available at Westcourt, Cecil Road, Shears Green and Riverview primary schools should the school shut.

John Webb, chair of governors, said: "We are extremely disappointed with the Ofsted report but staff and the governing body is committed to working with the local education authority to improve the standards here as quickly as possible."