Parents have spoken of their fears that a school on the Lizard Peninsula could be about to close, bringing to an end 138 years of teaching.

An emergency meeting is now being called about the future of St Martin Primary School, where pupil numbers are expected to drop to just 11 in the entire school come September.

Executive headteacher Tom Harman has denied the school is to close, but parents are fearful about the future education of their children, after being called into discussions with the school, part of the five-school Keskowethyan Multi-Academy Trust.

One parent claimed: "The Keskowethyan MAT presented its plan to stop teaching at St Martin School, with infants from St Martin being taught at Manaccan School following the Easter holidays and the juniors from St Martin being taught at Manaccan School following the SATS exams in May.

"This would end teaching at St Martin school after 138 years.

"There has been no previous warning or indication that this was on the way, and unsurprisingly was met with shock and surprise by the parents."

He alleged that the reasons given by the multi-academy trust for the urgency of the decision related to St Martin's secretary moving post to Coverack School and the infant class teacher taking up a post at Manaccan School - which appeared to "all be under the control of the academy."

"It feels a bit like they are taking the opportunity to take away teaching from St Martin rather than fighting to keep it there," he added.

"When St Martin school joined up with the other Keskowethyan schools we were promised that everything would be done to ensure education continued at all the schools, and it does not appear that this is the case."

However, Tom Harman, executive headteacher of the multi-academy trust that St Martin joined in 2014, has denied that there are plans to close the school.

He stressed that the school building was part of the trust and "would always have a use."

"It is a lovely site and it would be madness to not utilise it," he said.

Mr Harman described St Martin, however, as "very, very small," with 14 pupils currently on the roll and three due to move to secondary school in September, with no children joining the reception class to replace them.

As a result, this would not leave enough children to warrant two separate classes.

Mr Harman said some pupils had already been going over to Manaccan School for joint activities and the school was exploring whether that could be done more.

"We're talking around ideas. There's nothing definitive that they're all going there, or staying here. We're looking at a whole range of possibilities. It's trying to look at how we get the best for these children," he added.

"We're looking at lots of different possibilities at the moment."

Mr Harman added it would be the Keskowethyan board of directors, rather than himself, who would decide on what happens in the future.

"Whatever is decided it will be soon, because we know people get a little bit twitchy about what's happening," he said.

On Monday St Martin Parish Council was called upon to help by parent David Murray, who spoke at length about the concerns.

As a result members agreed to hold an emergency meeting with the directors of the multi-academy trust, on a date still to be set.

Speaking after the meeting council chairman Philip Jenkin told the Packet: "We're very disappointed that there's not been any consultation on the proposals for St Martin School.

"The parish council will do all we can to keep the school at St Martin, as we think it's a very good school.

"If we lose our school we could lose the heart of the village. We don't know why they would consider shutting it down."

He added the village had already lost its shop and nearby Newtown Filling Station and did not want its school to follow.

The school was praised by Ofsted following an inspection in January, which rated St Martin as "good" - the second highest grading.

Inspector David Edwards found the school had reached a "welcome period of stability" after facing a "period of unsettling change" that included the closure of its pre-school in December last year, a complete change of teaching staff and two "unsuccessful reorganisation attempts."

Mr Edwards also commented on the relationships the school had already established with its other partner schools, with the youngest pupils at St Martin already travelling once a week for joint activities with other pupils, and described it as "wise" for staff to plan further visits.