A primary school threatened with closure due to falling pupil numbers has applied to become an academy.

Islington Council is currently carrying out a consultation to shut The Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Primary School at the end of this school year (July 31).

The school, in Boadicea Street near King’s Cross, has just six pupils in its reception class, but space for 30 children.

The council says that for every unused pupil place in Islington, the school will be missing out on an average of £5,500 a year.

But Blessed Sacrament has now said that it has applied to become an academy in an effort to “secure the school’s future and prevent…closure”.

The school says it is working in partnership with Cardinal Hume Academies Trust (CHAT).

Its academies currently include Bishop Douglass in East Finchley, St George’s in Maida Vale and St Thomas More in Wood Green.

Blessed Sacrament said that it has already benefitted from the support of CHAT, and “is excited about a bright future in this partnership”.

A spokesperson for the school, which is currently rated ‘good’ by education watchdog Ofsted, said that the quality of its teaching “remains strong”.

They added: “Our parents and staff are reassured by the CHAT's proven record of excellence, and together we are dedicated to delivering the highest standards of education for all our children.”

Islington Council’s move to close the school comes as it faces a falling birth rate and people moving out of the borough.

The undersubscribed primary saw an 18 per cent drop in numbers this year and has the lowest pupil count in the borough, with 76 out of a possible 210.

Two-thirds of 96 respondents (64 in total) to an informal consultation held late last year about the planned closure disagreed with the proposals.

A formal consultation on plans to shut Blessed Sacrament will run until February 15, with a final decision expected to be made at the council’s executive meeting in March.

Elsewhere, children at Montem Primary School in Hornsey Road are likely to be transferred to nearby Duncombe Primary School in Sussex Way, if a planned merger goes ahead next summer.

Next Thursday (February 8), the council will decide whether to start a formal consultation on the plans, which would take place on August 31 if approved.