CONCERNED parents are celebrating a major breakthrough in their fight to keep a special school open.

The Borough of Poole has delayed formal consultation on proposals to close Winchelsea School and relocate pupils into centres in mainstream schools.

The decision has been made following a campaign mounted by mums and dads and relatives of past and present pupils.

Around 2,000 petitions have already been signed opposing the school's closure and a website set up to enable comments to be made online.

Formal consultation on the council's £5 million proposals to develop new and existing education facilities in the Rossmore area began on Friday.

But in light of the dissatisfaction expressed over the Winchelsea proposals education chiefs want to allow more time to discuss options with parents, teachers and the local community.

This means that for the next three months parents, schools and the local community will be involved in the informal consultation to develop the proposals.

Parent Annie Morton, who is fronting the campaign, said the news marked a significant victory in their battle to keep the school open.

The aim was now to make sure the children remained together in one school, though not necessarily on the Guernsey Road site.

"We are very pleased," she said. "This shows they are obviously hearing our shouts."

Shirley Goodwin, policy director of education said: "As a result of the views and concerns expressed by parents on replacing Winchelsea School with special learning centres on other school sites, formal consultation on this area of the bid has been delayed.

"Instead further discussions will be held with the school and parents to examine the initial proposals plus other options."

She said: "Many parents had worries such as how the new centres would work and maintain the caring and protective environment which the children currently enjoy.

"This extra time will allow us to work through these concerns with them and come up with the best solution and way forward which we can use as the basis for formal consultation."

The council has also agreed to undertake a review of parking and traffic issues around the relevant school sites.

Consultation on the plans to close the Trinidad First School site and move the school to new accommodation at Alderney Middle School and replace the library at Herbert Avenue with a new learning resource is now under way.

The closing date for comments is July 31.