PARENTS and residents are being urged to make their views on a possible school closure known in a survey which is set to go before education chiefs and a MP.

The survey is being circulated around Allendale in south-west Northumberland, where the town’s middle school is being mooted for closure following a bad Ofsted report.

An action group of parents and local people from the school’s catchment area is waging a major campaign to keep the school open.

Northumberland County Council is in the middle of a 12-week consultation over proposals to close the “failing” 137-pupil school and merge pupils into other schools in the Haydon Bridge Partnership.

But this would effectively create a two-tier education system in the area – and the prospect has sparked strong opposition.

The survey covers alternative options including that of sponsored academy status for the school. The information gathered will be presented to Hexham MP Guy Opperman when he meets the campaigners on November 24.

It will also go before the county council Executive before it makes a decision in January.

The survey asks for opinions on:

Sponsored academy status;

Primary school teaching 4-11-year-olds in the Allendale First School or Middle School building;

Teaching 4-13-year-olds in the Middle School building;

Incorporating community facilities into the Allendale school sites;

Prioritising stabilising the school buildings before sell-off or redevelopment;

Extending the timescale for closure 12 months to September 2014;

Ensuring new school(s) have proper investment.

Organisers want views returned to them by Wednesday, November 21, in order to circulate the results by the coming weekend.

Copies of the results will be circulated by email, facebook and in Allendale Library and Post Office.