A GWENT village will be desolated if its school is axed, a councillor is warning on the eve of the local authority deciding its future.

Pentwyn Primary School in Abersychan is earmarked for closure by Torfaen Council along with two other primary schools in the borough.

The move is part of a raft of measures aimed at cutting the number of surplus places in primary schools which, education chiefs say, will top 2,500 by 2008.

Torfaen Council makes a final decision on whether to close three schools tomorrow - Pentwyn, Brookfield primary and Ponthir VC primary - at an extraordinary meeting.

The meeting will be attended by campaigners fighting to keep the schools open.

Councillor Ken Clark, Torfaen Council's member for Abersychan, said Pentwyn would be desolated by any such proposal. "It is a focal point of village life and used by the community for evening activities. There is no community hall or like facility there apart from the school. The school provides employment for local people and has been part of local life for a long time."

Councillor Clark described Pentwyn as "a lovely school" where pupils are "happy and nurtured in a caring environment".

The local authority set down criteria in it's school organisation plan by which it selected the three schools earmarked for closure. These included standards of teaching and achievement, number of pupils drawn from outside the catchment area and, crucially, surplus places.

According to council statistics, Pentwyn currently has 42 surplus places, a figure which the council says will increase to 102 by 2008.

Pentwyn's head, Jeff Phillips, said staff and pupils were sad but remain positive despite the threat of closure. "Things are as normal as they possibly can be," he said. We realise there is a likelihood of closure. If it has to be, then it has to be.

"We have put up a good fight. We know we haven't done anything wrong at the school but we see this as inevitable now.

"It has been on the cards for some time. We appreciate the council has got to do something because of the economics of the situation."