The two schools had more and more empty desks each year

Fife Council's children's committee decided on Thursday to shut Smithygreen Primary, in Leven, and Dunshalt Primary, near Auchtermuchty.

Smithygreen currently has three pupils and Dunshalt has seven.

Four mothers of pupils at Dunshalt undertook a campaign to save their school, with all seven children writing heartfelt letters to councillors.

However, those pleas did not persuade committee members to reject the local authority's proposals.

Members voted by 11 to nine to allow the closures to take place.

Parents first learned of plans to shut the schools in the middle of November last year.

We felt we had made a strong case to support retaining the school Pauline Stevenson Parent 'It's wrong to close our school'

Dunshalt residents organised a public meeting to fight the closure of its primary, which has been a part of village life since 1875.

Pauline Stevenson, whose eight-year-old son attends Dunshalt Primary, said she was very saddened by the outcome.

"We took this battle on, not only for our own children, but also for the village and its future.

"It is such a good school and part of Scotland's educational heritage, which we should be justly proud of.

"The decision by councillors today is the saddest of outcomes," said Ms Stevenson.

The council, which has a policy of examining the viability of schools with a roll of less than 55, said that the primaries could not be sustained in the face of further reductions in pupil numbers.

Former head teacher

With two primary seven pupils and one primary three pupil currently attending Smithygreen, the projected pupil roll for August 2007 was one.

Councillor Kay Morrison said: "It is with great regret that we face decisions which mean the closure of any of our schools.

"In the last three years we've made lots of difficult decisions to close schools where the rolls have been falling and the demographic and social changes indicate that would continue."

Ms Stevenson said the council had not given her village enough time to fight for its school.

She said: "We researched roll calculations and finance - we had at least one formal placing request and several informal requests for information.

"We registered the school as an eco-school and set up a school club to identify money-saving ideas for the council.

"We suggested alternative sources of funding for the school, rallied the support of our former head teacher, pupils past and present, Dunshalt villagers, councillors and MSP Iain Smith.

Tribute paid

"We felt we had made a strong case to support retaining the school."

Ms Morrison said Smithygreen and Dunshalt had served their communities well.

She added: "We fully understand the desire from some parents to see these schools remain open.

"However, we have a responsibility to look beyond the emotion and consider the wider educational and social benefits to pupils of learning in a larger school environment.

"We pay tribute to those who gave us their comments during the formal consultation period.

"We looked very carefully at their views, combined with the facts about actual and predicted numbers, as well as patterns of parental choice."

From August 2007, pupils from Smithygreen will transfer to Craigrothie Primary and pupils from Dunshalt will attend Auchtermuchty Primary School.