CAMPAIGNING parents are celebrating after being told their school has been saved from closure.
Dunswell Primary is to be taken under the wing of Swanland Primary School Academy Trust after the Government agreed to the rescue plan.
Ecstatic parents were told the news as they collected their children from Dunswell Primary School at the end of lessons yesterday.
It comes just days before East Riding Council's cabinet was set to vote on a recommendation to shut the 88-pupil primary.
Dunswell parent Julie Reed, who led the campaign to save the school, said parents cheered and cried tears of joy when they learned their school had been thrown a lifeline.
Mrs Reed said: "We are all absolutely thrilled to bits. Everyone was crying and cheering and we are all so pleased and relieved.
"It's like a weight has been lifted off the school. It means the world to us.
"We will prove the council wrong for the next 100 years about this school. We will move the school forward. It will go from strength to strength.
"It will be the best thing that has happened to the school."
Ray Woodward, headteacher at the top-rated Swanland Primary School Academy Trust, is also thrilled.
He said: "We have really got to underline how delighted we are that this super little school can now get on with the job of educating its pupils and get rid of those awful nerves about its future.
"The sword of Damocles has been hanging over them for since February.
"They have been on tenterhooks over whether they had a school, whether the staff had jobs and whether the children could continue going to the school they love.
"Dunswell can now look forward with optimism to the future."
Swanland Primary, which has been awarded Ofsted's top rating six times in a row, sent a letter out to its parents last night, informing them of the news.
Mr Woodward said legal procedures must be completed but it is hoped Dunswell will start the new school year under Swanland's multi-academy trust, taking the school out of council control by September.
Dunswell Primary was told to improve by Ofsted last year and Mr Woodward insisted the school could now focus on a bright future.
He said: "The school is working very hard to get rid of a notice to improve.
"I am just so pleased for them now because all the work they have put in will pay off."
