STAFF at a Dorset special school have reacted angrily to a decision to close it.

Dorset County Council chiefs voted unanimously yesterday to shut Penwithen School from August next year.

But supporters of the school near Dorchester, which caters for children with behavioural and emotional problems, say they are angry and upset at the decision and have vowed to continue the fight to keep it open.

Melanie Hellier, a teaching assistant at the school said she was disappointed and angry at the decision.

"It feels like this has been on the mind of officers for a long time and it all comes down to money. It shouldn't happen. We only have 15 boys in the school at the moment but they all need us."

Another member of staff said she was concerned that council officers had claimed that the number of children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties was dropping.

"These children have not just vanished, they are still out there."

Lyle Harmon, acting head of Penwithen, said: "It's not an amazing surprise but I'm very disappointed at the decision that has been reached by cabinet, very disappointed that they have made the decision without any alternatives in place."

He said the last 18 months had been very difficult for the school but they had not given up hope. A special governors' meeting next week was planned to discuss options open to the school.

Malcolm Lacey, governors' chairman, agreed that the last two years had been difficult for staff not knowing where the future of Penwithen lay.

He said: "It's never been a question of keeping Penwith-en open in this way forever. But I am concerned that we are looking at closure before anything else is in place."

Earlier, members of the county council's cabinet, who decided to close the school from the end of August next year, heard that the school currently has 15 boys on the role and by next year that number would fall to nine. It has a capacity of 50.

David Goddard, director of education, said that at present the school, which costs £1 million a year to run, gives 'very poor value for money'.

He said all the boys at Penwithen could be accommodated elsewhere, adding that the long-term plan was to provide a new centre of excellence in a more central location to provide schooling for pupils with educational needs different to those presently catered for at Penwithen.

Leader of the council Coun Tim Palmer asked if it would be possible to use Penwithen as the new centre of excellence. Although Mr Goddard did not rule it out, he said he thought it should be located more centrally than Dorchester.