PARENTS at Trewen School have launched a recruitment campaign in a bid to save their school from closure.

The school at Cwm Cou, Newcastle Emlyn, is currently under threat as part of a review into primary education in the area being carried out by Ceredigion County Council.

With only 14 pupils currently attending the village school, it, along with neighbouring Beulah, is facing an uncertain future, with closure a real possibility.

But parents are determined to fight to keep it open and are convinced they can make a viable case to other parents to send their children to the school and preserve its status.

Parent governor Lucy Gamblin said: “We know we need to attract more pupils and we have set up a website where parents can go to pledge to send their children to the school. It is not easy with the threat of closure but still parents have pledged to support us.

“Ysgol Trewen is one of the last small schools in the area yet it has the capacity to keep up with modern standards.

“It has the facilities and space to move into the future but is small enough to retain a friendly, family atmosphere.

“Between Ysgol Beulah and Ysgol Trewen, there are 32 pupils with nine siblings due to start soon. With Y Ddwylan (Newcastle Emlyn) being full, will the council have a school place for all these children? How can they justify closing a perfectly good school?”

The parents say they are receiving interest from parents in Adpar but those without cars cannot walk the route to the school as it is too dangerous, while the option of sending children to Bro Teifi seems a million miles away for the children.

But parents believe the council would be obliged to provide transport under local authority guidelines.

“Surely it would make sense for the council to lay on transport and that would ease the pressure on Y Ddwylan and give our school the numbers it needs to grow and thrive,” said Lucy.

"Or is there a community minibus out there we could use?”

There has been significant investment and improvement in the Trewen school buildings in recent years to bring it up to a high standard and parents are confident they could set up a Mudiad Meithrin to further strengthen their case.

A Facebook community group has attracted more than 70 supporters while a website where parents can pledge to send their children to the school has been set up at ysgoltrewencommunity.weebly.com

“This school has so much to offer children and if they want to keep any small schools, we offer a great option, otherwise small schools are gone forever,” added Lucy.