ANXIOUS times lie ahead for pupils, parents and staff at a Worcestershire school which is due to close next year.

Cliffey House Special School, at Hanley Swan, will close after Worcestershire County Council adopted a Government policy to include pupils with moderate special needs in mainstream schools.

Sixty-four pupils will be sent to learning centres at south Worcestershire high schools, or to other special schools, depending on their needs.

Headteacher Ann Starr said staff had been offered the opportunity to work at the learning centres.

"The pupils, parents and staff will be anxious about the next 18 months," said Mrs Starr.

"I am sure the local education authority will do its best to ensure the provision for pupils will be made for individual needs. We are looking to the education community for support in this time of change.

"This will not happen overnight and obviously there will be some significant work to do with mainstream schools."

Patricia Watkins, behaviour recovery manager, who has been with the school for five years, said Cliffey House had a good discipline policy and mainstream schools might have difficulty maintaining it.

"I will be upset to see the school close," said Mrs Watkins. "If it is done correctly and they take their time and place pupils in the appropriate schools, then it has a good opportunity of working. If it is done in a rush, I can see it not working too well.

"The timescale of closure by 2004 is going to be too soon because there is an awful lot of work to be done, particularly in the mainstream schools.

"There has been a mixed reception from parents. Some are quite happy about their children being in mainstream schools. Others just don't want it to happen. Their main concern is bullying."

The decision to close the school will need to be ratified by the school organisation committee on Monday, April 28.

The county council has "no intention of a wholesale closure" of special schools said Ruth Chiva, the county council's head of services to schools.

*'Shining example'

The school was formerly Rhydd Court, a boys' boarding school which closed in 1991 following allegations of sexual abuse.

It reopened as Cliffey House, a mixed day school, in 1992 and initially won praise from education watchdogs, who said it was a shining example of teaching youngsters with learning disabilities and autism.

However, Ofsted placed the school on special measures in 1996 and 2001.

Weakness in teachers' abilities to control classes and failure to provide satisfactory value for money were cited by inspectors in 1999.

Ruth Chiva, Worcestershire County Council's head of services to schools, said Cliffey House was now making "rapid improvements".

"An awful lot of work has been done over the last 12 months and the school has now come out of special measures," she said this week.

Among schools approached to host the learning centres for pupils are Christopher Whitehead High School, Nunnery Wood High School, The Elgar High School, The Chase High School and Dyson Perrins High School.