Rivington Park Independent School, in Rivington Lane, had been faced with closure after liquidators were called in to assess the situation.

As a result around half of the 50 pupils withdrew from the school, which costs parents around £5,000 a year.

However, a group of concerned parents clubbed together to save the school by investing £60,000 of their own money in conjunction with current owner and headteacher Michael Ruaux.

Mr Ruaux, whose mum founded the school as a nursery 15 years ago, said: "This time last week we could have given up when I got a letter pushed under my door from pupils saying 'save out school', I knew that we had to do something.

"I contacted the parents and spoke to all the staff in within a very short period of time they got together with this package.

"The response has been unbelievable from all the parents and we've been able to save the school.

"We've lost quite a few pupils but we are now confident that we can move forward and curriculum will be as broad and enriched as ever."

Mr Ruaux said the school got into trouble after falling behind in tax payments to the tune of £80,000 and the situation was worsened when they had to write of £40,000 in bad debts as a result of the credit crunch.

Parents of pupils have raised a total of £60,000 in pledges and donations.

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