PARENTS and staff were celebrating this week after their 'outstanding' city centre primary school was given a reprieve.

Durham County Council's cabinet decided on Monday that St Oswald's Church of England Infant and Nursery School will not be closed in a drive to reduce surplus places.

The school was one of 23 on a County Hall 'hit list' but parents, governors and Durham Diocesan Board of Education launched a vigorous campaign, setting up a website that attracted 175 on-line signatures against closure, mainly from ex-pupils.

The school, in the centre of Durham, attracts many children from professional and academic backgrounds - particularly from the city's university - and has a wide mix of nationalities.

After the Labour-run council announced it was a possible candidate for closure, an Ofsted inspection report described St Oswald's as an 'outstanding school' in the top five per cent nationally for performance test results, underscoring the campaigners' claims about its excellence .

The council, which has drawn up a £300m 'blueprint for excellence' in schools, says the scale of closures may be much less than first envisaged.

A spokesman said additional information from the Government has pointed us more firmly in the direction of full service schooling, where surplus places are put to uses other than just education.

"Consequently, we are confident we can resolve the surplus places problem with far fewer closures than was first anticipated in our draft document. There is now no reason to give further consideration to any changes at St Oswald's and we are happy that the school can continue.''

Head Kath Linsley said: "We are very pleased. It's lovely that we know the good education we provide here can continue.

"It wasn't just the parents who campaigned, it was the whole community - pensioners and students - and we are very grateful for their support.

"It was very worrying for the children, staff and parents and very unsettling for us all.''

Parent governor Sarah Lawrance said: "A lot of people felt very strongly about it and it was worth putting the effort in to make a strong statement.

"But we wouldn't have succeeded if we didn't have a strong case in the first place.''