A GOVERNING body has urged parents to get behind Darlington's new Education Village and concentrate on the "exciting educational future" being offered to their children and the community.

The new federated governing body of the Education Village wrote to parents at Springfield Primary School explaining the benefits of the new £35m education project under construction in Haughton.

Parents at the school have objected to the village, saying Springfield will lose its autonomy.

More than 50 signed a petition asking to be 'de-federated' - calling for Springfield to leave the joint governing body and regain its own independent governors.

The Education Village, bringing together Haughton Community School, Beaumont Hill Special School and Springfield, was supposed to open this month, but has been hit with delays and will now open in April.

It is the first time children with such severe special needs have been included in mainstream schools in this manner, and it has been hailed as a national blueprint for future developments.

Springfield Primary School has said that 100 per cent of its staff are in favour of the Education Village and, at a recent governors meeting, it was decided there was no reason Springfield should remain independent.

And yesterday Springfield parents received a letter which read: "The federated governing body sincerely hopes that their decision will be accepted as final."

Last night, one of the parents said: "We have only just got the letter and we are yet to talk to a lot of the parents, but we will be doing that over the next day or two."

The parents could take the matter to the Secretary of State.

Yesterday, acting headteacher Sue Sharpe said: "We are very excited about the new Education Village and are looking forward to it opening. We all think this is a great opportunity and are looking forward to the future."

And Ada Burns, chief executive of Darlington Borough Council, said: "We welcome the decision of the governors who are unanimously supportive of this exciting project."

The governing body received a petition asking to be de-federated from 62 Springfield parents.

However, four parents subsequently wrote to remove their names.

Governors said Springfield pupils would have access to £7m worth of annual resources, as opposed to £500,000 currently available to the school, a bigger pool of teachers and better facilities.