A "FAILING" city primary school looks set to be the first in Worcestershire to be closed down and re-opened under new leadership.

The board of governors at Elbury Mount has been asked to resign and the headteacher was called to a crisis meeting this morning where she was due to be asked to consider her positon.

The death knell for the current regime at Elbury Mount Primary, in Brickfields, rang at a specially arranged meeting of the Worcestershire LEA, who condemned the board of governors for letting down the pupils and the community.

Elbury Mount Primary, formed almost a decade ago following the merger of the infant and junior schools, has had a troubled history.

In 1998 it became the first primary school in the county to be failed by a Government inspector and the next year was named the 13th worst primary in the whole of England.

Since 1998, despite more than £4m of investment on the site, pupil numbers have dropped by 70 per cent.

At the meeting convened at County Hall, Worcestershire County Council chairman, Dr George Lord claimed the school had "failed" its pupils. Financial control has already been withdrawn from the governors.

Headteacher Kay Morgan was this morning called to a crisis meeting with the county's Director of Education, Julien Kramer, where she was asked to "consider her position."

He was due to visit the school later today, with other aides, to assess the problems. The LEA is hopeful that, with Government intervention, the school can be given a "clean slate", with a new headteacher and board of governors setting about dealing with the problems at the school.

It would mean Elbury Mount closing at the end of August, next year, and re-opening the following day with a new management in place.

City MP Mike Foster, a Parliamentary aide in the education department, said the county council was left under no alternative, but to call for a "fresh start".