HAMPSHIRE'S education chiefs were warned last night that they will be "waking a sleeping tiger" if they introduce plans to close Fawley's village school.

Fawley is one of the schools which have come under threat because of a review of the infant and junior framework in the parishes along the eastern edge of the New Forest.

But it has caused a stir throughout the village, with "Save Our School" signs popping up on countless posts and noticeboards. Although it has just 67 pupils, 176 people turned up for a meeting last night where county officers outlined the options.

Two of those options - for a merger with just Blackfield Infant School and a merger with both Blackfield Infant and Blackfield Junior Schools - involve possible closure.

Those choices failed to win any support, but there was considerable support both for leaving the school as it is and leaving the two Blackfield schools to merge.

The warning about the feeling in the village came from long-serving New Forest councillor John Coles, also a county councillor.

After a meeting packed with emotional tributes to the part the school has played for its community, he said: "I have represented Fawley for 30 years and there is a tremendous community spirit here.

"What you have done today is stuck a stick in the side of a sleeping tiger and he has opened one eye at you. Don't stick that stick in him again."

The option for a 630-pupil school absorbing Fawley into the two at Blackfield received a particularly hostile reception, with many parents worried that sending small children to a large primary school would damage their education.

Fears of additional traffic congestion at Blackfield, the possibility of some children having to walk alongside busy roads and a loss of trade to shops in the village through not having mums and their children walking to Fawley School were also aired.

Fawley parish councillor Jon Holmes said children from the Calshot area, which he represents, would have much further to travel to school if they were sent to Blackfield.

With transport from Calshot already a problem and provisional plans recently unveiled for 200 new houses there, he added: "This is not just a school, it is the beginning of lives for the young people of this area."

Hampshire County Council's education officer for primary schools, Chris Holt, said the review had to be considered because of the reducing number of children being born.