With a new maintenance team on board at the school in Brooklands Drive, Leighton, first on the agenda was the David Parry memorial garden at the front of the school. Staff and pupils unveiled a new plaque this week to replace the original which had been battered by the elements and mindlessly vandalised over the years.

Pansies had been planted and the fir tree trimmed so the garden was awash with colour this week ready for the new memorial.

David died in 1991 when he was a year five student at Brooklands. The lad lived with his family in the former Dolphin Pub in Golden Square, Hockliffe Road, Leighton.

The LBO reported on November 25, 1991, how David had returned home and jumped over the pub's garden wall surprising the family's pet dogs, a Great Dane, a German Shepherd and a Patterdale Terrier. They attacked him and he later died in Luton and Dunstable Hospital.

The headteacher at the time Mr Paul Harris established the garden and set up a memorial fund, which is still in operation today, funding trips or music lessons for children from lower-income families and some of the educational trips available to all the children at Brooklands.

Headteacher Steve Harrington-Williams said: "We are having a tidy up after our stay of execution! David's plaque could no longer be read so we thought we'd start here. There have been many stories about dog attacks recently and this should remind people that it does happen."

Meanwhile, the executive committee at Bedfordshire County Council will meet on June 3 to make a final decision on whether to close Brooklands.

The school was reprieved back in November when potential plans to build a further 4,400 homes in the Brooklands catchment were revealed by Leighton-Linslade Town Councillor Paul Record. Cabinet education chief Cllr Rita Drinkwater did a u-turn and called for a report on what the effect of this would be on the schools in Leighton-Linslade.

Optimism at the school reigns high, however, as this week the school received encouraging news that it has been allocated £120,000 by the council towards external repairs to the buildings if it remains open. Mr Harrington-Williams also hopes to refurbish the library.

He said: "I remain optimistic that executives at Bedfordshire County Council will recommend the school stays open and the new Central Bedfordshire authority will support this. Morale is really good in school at the moment and we still have the support of staff, pupils, parents, the local community and councillors."

A spokesman for Beds County Council said: "Up to £120,000 has been identified in the maintenance budget for work on the exterior of the building, if it is decided that the school will remain open.