A ROW has erupted after 50 children were sent home from their Blackburn school after it was suddenly closed.

Education bosses have said that pupils at Fernhurst School, Heys Lane, were sent home because of safety concerns over a stairwell and staircase.

But teaching union officials today claimed that the safety issue was a cover, and said the school was closed because staff were struggling to cope with the behaviour of pupils.

The school is for pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Children were sent home at noon on Monday while staff phoned parents at home.

Teachers were then called into a meeting to be told they would have to pay home visits to the students, aged between 11 and 18 for up to two weeks.

They would then transfer, with pupils, to other special needs schools in the borough.

Education bosses at Blackburn with Darwen Council declined to specify what the problems were with the staircase and stairwell. They also said that there were heating problems which had left the school cold.

Cath Hitchen, assistant director for access and inclusion, education and lifelong learning said: "We have a number of concerns relating to some areas of the building which are impacting on the quality of teaching and learning in the school.

"To ensure the health and safety of pupils and staff we have taken the decision to close the school for the foreseeable future - although there are no current plans to close the school for good."

And she refuted union claims and said: "I would like to stress it is the building which is not good enough to assist the management of pupils' behaviour and that is the only reason the school has been closed."

But Simon Jones, National Union of Teachers national executive member, said: "This is an extremely worrying development.

"I have met with members who teach at the school and this is the first I have heard about any dangerous stairwell.

"It would seem health and safety issues were cited so that the school could be shut down immediately.

"Fernhurst special school was only established by the Local Education Authority just over a year ago against the advice of unions who had major concerns about its future then.

"Members have told me that they couldn't carry on working at the school with conditions as bad as they were and have admitted that there is some relief that it has now come to a head."

The National Association of School Masters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) said the school had been in difficulty for some time and had predicted a decision to close the school last month.

Lesley Ham, secretary for the NASUWT, said: "The only way they could close the school this quickly is under health and safety measures by claiming there was an issue with the staircase but I am afraid the picture does not fit.

"The school has been failing and has had School Improvement Officers in since October and it has become unsafe for teachers to work in."

Mrs Ham said staff have been subjected to verbal and physical assaults from pupils and she claimed this had led to staff absenteeism.

Opposition councillors today said they would be "amazed" if stairwell problems had forced such a sudden closure.

Coun Sheila Williams, Conservative spokesman for education, said: "This council is very hot on health and safety so I will be amazed if a stairwell has really been able to get into such a condition that it forces a whole school to close for the foreseeable future."

Coun John Williams, a Tory member of the education overview and scrutiny committee at Blackburn with Darwen Council, added: "We have a meeting next week. I will be demanding this is discussed. I can't believe a stairwell is responsible for all this."

But Coun Dave Hollings, education executive member at the council, said: "It is an unfortunate situation but the priority is that the children get into education as quickly as possible."

When asked about the unions' claims, he said: "The nature of Fernhurst is that it serves some of our most troubled pupils and behaviour is an on-going issue at the school."

Simon Jones added: "The LEA seems to have a detailed emergency plan but we are worried about the effects on the other schools and other educational establishments which will now take Fernhurst's pupils.

"Sunnyhurst has only got three classes so two will have to merge to make room for Fernhurst pupils."

Ewood councillor Florence Oldfield, who is chairman of the school governors at Fernhurst, said: "They have shut the school on health and safety grounds and that is all I have got to say on the matter."