Oxfordshire MPs David Cameron and Boris Johnson and Euro MP James Elles are joining forces to launch a campaign to save the European School at Culham, near Abingdon.

The European Commission has been studying the future of 12 European schools and may withdraw the cash which supports the 900-pupil school at Culham.

Pupils include 22 children whose parents work at the BMW plant in Cowley, Oxford.

Supporters are concerned because of a fall in the number of children whose parents work at the nearby Culham Laboratory.

The number of European staff working on the Joint European Torus (Jet) project, that seeks to harness energy from nuclear fusion, is being reduced as the project winds down.

Mr Johnson, in whose Henley constituency the school is based, has met Education Secretary Charles Clarke to discuss his concerns.

On Tuesday, April 20, Witney MP Mr Cameron will raise the issue in a House of Commons debate.

He said: "Many children from families whose parents are from Europe and from local families like this very impressive school.

"It has the International Baccalaureate, which some parents prefer to A-Levels."

Oxfordshire Euro MP James Elles is a member of the European Parliament's committee on budgets that has examined the viability of 12 European schools.

Mr Elles said: "The future of the European schools will be debated by the committee and I will be pressing for all of them, including Culham, to be retained as centres of educational excellence."

Meanwhile, parents of children at the Culham school are asking for support from research institutes, councillors and BMW in a bid to help save the school, which was established in 1978 to support the Jet project.

Its teachers are paid by the British Government, but it also receives EU money.

Parents employed by European institutions get free places at the school.

Other children are admitted, but pay fees. Changes in funding are expected to follow the enlargement of the EU next month, when 10 new countries will join.