Pupils fighting to save their Buchan school have made a direct plea to education bosses.
Longhaven Primary may close its doors for the last time this week after the recruitment of a new headteacher stalled.
Parents have been scrambling to find new schools for their children ahead of the Easter holidays starting on Friday.
Now Longhaven’s pupils have shown they are up for the battle by hoisting a campaign banner urging the local authority to give the school a future.
It came as councillors and education officials held talks to discuss the situation.
Petra Campbell-Groat is one the parents who has been tasked with enrolling elsewhere before the end of this week. She needs to find a school for her 11-year-old son Charlie.
Mrs Campbell-Groat, who is also chairwoman of the parent council, said: “It is really short notice as it is not leaving us with much time to plan before Easter
“In one respect it is good that we are free to view any local school and the council recommended Boddam or Port Errol.
“But at the same time I am thinking that if it was a temporary measure they would take all the kids and bus them to another teacher for a specific amount of time.
“All of us do live in different parts of the area so there are several schools we could go to and the chances are we will all end up at different schools.”
Peterhead South and Cruden councillor Stephen Smith held talks with the council’s education chief Vincent Docherty and councillor Gillian Owen, the education committee’s chairwoman yesterday.
He said: “The chair of the education committee and officials gave me an assurance that, while they had to have contingencies in place for the children’s education, there was no agenda on the part of the council to close the school.
“I received an undertaking that efforts to secure the services of a teacher for Longhaven School for after the Easter break would continue.
“What I would like to see is for that to happen without any need for the children to go to alternative schools in the meantime, and for the school to open as normal after Easter.”
Mrs Owen said: “Longhaven School has a very small school roll. Unfortunately, there have been challenges with recruiting teaching staff meaning children will have to attend other nearby schools after the Easter break.
“Whilst I apologise to parents for the inconvenience caused, I hope they understand that the council is working to find a solution which most benefits their children’s education.”
