A SCHOOL that was spared closure earlier this year may gain sponsorship to safeguard its future.

Bosses at Hurworth School are considering whether the school should link up with a business to provide much-needed investment.

In March, parents, teachers and governors at Hurworth won a battle with Darlington Borough Council to stop the school from being merged with Eastbourne Comprehensive in a new academy in Darlington.

After the council dropped its plans to force Hurworth into the academy - opting instead for a stand-alone Eastbourne academy - governors at Hurworth voted to gain foundation status in the hope it would safeguard the school's future.

This freed it from the control of the local authority.

Now, school leaders are looking at ways to secure investment in the school buildings.

Hurworth needs a cash injection to bring the building up to the standards of a 21st Century school.

It would cost £15m to completely rebuild the school on its existing site.

Gaining that money has proved difficult but one option is to sell school improvement services - possibly linked to a company such as Capita.

This may lead to Hurworth converting to trust status - a route the Government is keen on.

Hurworth chief executive Eamonn Farrar is carrying out a consultation with pupils, staff, governors, local communities, other Darlington headteachers and council bosses to determine the best way forward.

He said: "People got quite scared when they thought the school was closing.

"We need to make sure the school has the facilities it needs to make sure we don't ever get put in the hat for closure again."

Mr Farrar hopes to present the results of the consultation to the school governors in July.

Headteacher Dean Judson said that, despite a difficult year during which the future of the school had been uncertain, the school was predicting record GCSE results this summer.

He said: "We told people going into the Easter holidays, 'you are leaving a local authority school and you will come back to a foundation school, but you won't really notice the difference'."

The school has asked Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose Sedgefield constituency includes Hurworth, to formally reopen the school now it has gained foundation status.