Education authority Norfolk County Council is exploring the idea of the merger between Dersingham Infant and Nursery and St George's Junior School to create a single primary school for the village.

County officials were due to face villagers at the parish's annual general meeting last night and it was expected that a further public meeting concentrating on the issue would be called.

Neither of the schools, which each have a roll of around 135 pupils, was prepared to speak to the Lynn News about the potential merger, but head of St George's, Mrs Ann Pope, said the school had been devastated by inspectors' comments about its standards and was working hard to improve.

St George's Junior, for seven to 11-year-olds, was given an official Notice to Improve in June after Ofsted inspectors found shortcomings in pupils' progress in maths and writing, checks on pupil's progress and the quality of teaching and underachievement in Years Three and Four.

A follow-up visit in February found it was making "inadequate progress" to address the issues, meaning the school runs the risk of falling into special measures in the next year.

On the other hand, Dersingham Infant and Nursery, for three to seven-year-olds, was graded as good with outstanding features in its last inspection in February last year.

In a statement issued before yesterday's meeting, county council head of planning and buildings for children's services Mr Chris Hey said: "One possibility is whether the two schools could come together to form a single primary school on a single site."