The closure of a community school in mid Wales has been shelved for a year.

Powys councillors took the decision on Monday morning following protests to keep 18-pupil Libanus Primary School open.

Protesters in the community held a demonstration outside Powys council offices in an attempt to try to halt the school's closure.

Councillors had been expected to go ahead and issue closure notices for the school which was 10 short of the required number of pupils.

However, the school has now been given an extra six months by the council to try to attract more children into its classrooms.

In the last few weeks, the school had opened a nursery, attracting nine potential future pupils in a bid to secure the school's future.

But with some older children set to leave for high school, the new recruits were not enough to bring the school roll up to 28 as demanded by the education authority.

Head teacher Jane Jones had appealed for more time to make the school viable.

"I hope pupil numbers grow and grow to prove that Libanus is not going to close for a long time yet," she said.

Villagers had joined the campaign warning the school plays a vital role in a farming village already caught up in the agricultural crisis.

Without the building, the women's institute, young farmers club and senior citizens group would all have been without a meeting place, they said.

In December, children at the school asked Father Christmas to help their campaign to save the school.

Now, they will have at least one more Christmas in their familiar surrounding.