CAMPAIGNERS have vowed to fight on to save one of Kent’s smallest schools after county education chiefs announced it is to close.

The shock news has left parents and governors of Hothfield School in Ashford reeling.

The school, which is one of the smallest in Kent with just 43 pupils, had hoped for a reprieve after county councillors argued it should be left alone.

But Kent County Council revealed on Wednesday it is to press ahead with a plan to close Hothfield in a drive to cut surplus places.

The education authority is also going ahead with separate proposals affecting four other Ashford schools - the merger of Ashford South and Oak Tree primary schools and Beaver Green Infant and Hopewell Junior School.

Only Charing Primary School, which had at one stage been earmarked to amalgamate with Hothfield, is to be left alone.

Cllr John Simmonds (Con), KCC’s cabinet member for education, said the decision to close Hothfield had been "finely balanced and very difficult" but he was not confident numbers at the school would continue to rise.

"Numbers at Hothfield have increased, with 43 pupils likely to be on the school roll, but I do not believe the local community will be able to sustain even this number in future year.

"The school’s size is such that there must be a question mark over the ability to offer the appropriate number of teaching staff and being able to avoid having to teach mixed year groups," he said.

He praised the headteacher John Ford for driving up standards but said that while there were signs of "green shoots" he remained unconvinced that the school was viable in the long run.

Campaigners fear closure will tear the heart out of the village.

Chairman of governors Ron Carden said: "It is a foolhardy decision, bad for the village and bad for the school. I don’t think KCC will save anywhere near the money they say they will."

The plans to close Hothfield and merge the other schools comes against a backdrop of a falling birth rate, which has left the 42 primary schools in Ashford with more than 1,000 spare places.

KCC’s decision to issue public notices triggers a six-week public consultation process on the three separate proposals. That will start after the school holidays on September 1.

The proposals will then be considered by the independent Schools Organisation Committee in November. If that committee does not back the plans unanimously, they will be referred to the Schools Adjudicator for a final decision.

If there are no objections, the plans could be in place by 2007.