TWO former governors' chairmen last night rallied to the cause of a threatened infant school as a packed meeting made an overwhelming plea to Hampshire County Council to keep it open.

The Manor Infant School at Holbury, near Fawley, is one of several in the Totton and Waterside areas which are being put under the spotlight of an educational review with closures as a possible option because of decreasing numbers of primary school pupils.

About 200 parents and supporters of the school, as well as several local councillors, were told that although neighbouring schools have spare places, Manor is filled to its capacity of 90.

While there were predictions that numbers in the area will continue to go down, head teacher Gill Hamer produced figures which showed that her school continually took in more new pupils than had been forecast.

The options given for the Manor at last night's meeting were a 240-pupil merger with Holbury Infant School on Holbury's site and a 420-pupil amalgation with both Holbury Infant and Holbury Junior on the Holbury Junior School site.

In calling for Manor to be left alone, former governors' chairman John Manning said: "I've been involved with this school for 14 years, eight of them as a governor and four as governors' chairman.

"This school gives value to the community, it encourages children to behave in a very nice way and when they leave here, people talk about how well behaved they are.

"It is about the quality of the teaching, the quality of the environment and the quality of the facilities and you won't get better quality anywhere on the Waterside."

Trish Dyer, another former chairman who was one of the school's first governors when it opened in 1981, said: "There is no way of measuring the value of that very solid early start which is provided here.

"But I believe from the point of view of my son, who was taught here, that if he hadn't been to this school he wouldn't be doing the PhD which he is at present taking at Sheffield University."

Chris Holt, Hampshire County Council's education officer for primary schools, pointed out that schools did not have to be small to be good.

He also stressed that no decisions had been taken and that if any changes to the schools' set-up in the area were made, they would not be introduced until 2005-06.

The meeting heard numerous tributes to the standards and the environment at the Manor.