No decision has yet been taken on the fate of Ysgol Y Bont

Ysgol Y Bont in Llangefni could be split into two new special units attached to a local primary and secondary school under a council plan.

Parents have expressed concern that their children may be asked to integrate into mainstream schools.

Conservatives have called for a halt to the closure of special schools and to end the push towards integration.

The Anglesey school opposes council proposals to situate facilities such as the hydrotherapy pool in one of the units.

'Common sense'

Head teacher David Hughes says some of the facilities require immediate access for pupils, and it would not be acceptable for them to be situated in just one of the two units.

These include the "white room", where pupils can go to calm down, and the hydrotherapy pool.

"We can't have a situation where we have to bus pupils to the other unit to use them," he said.

Ysgol Y Bont school is situated on an industrial estate in pre-fabricated buildings which have deteriorated over a period of time.

Both parents and teachers agree it is common sense to close the school and re-open it on a new site.

The local authority says its preferred option is to split the school into two new units, but this was rejected by parents, teachers and governors.

Re-homing Ysgol Y Bont next to a primary school was also rejected, as Ysgol Y Bont teaches young people up to the age of 19.

Mr Hughes says he has concerns the new units may not contain the same high standard of facilities.

"Parents and friends of the school have raised the money over a period of time to fund the facilities we have here.

"We have a verbal promise that one unit will contain them but there is no obligation for the local authority to provide exactly the same facilities."

But the local authority says it will provide a hydrotherapy unit.

Excellence

Mr Hughes said splitting the school in two would be traumatic for pupils who take a long time to adapt to any change and require a highly structured education.

And Kerry Page, who has two children at the school, is worried that some children may be forced out.

"There's absolutely no way my two boys would cope in a mainstream environment. There'd be too much anxiety, there'd be too much stress - there'd be bullying.

"And my children would lash out - they'd be angry because they're upset and anxious."

But Anglesey local education authority says fears about integrating pupils into other schools are unfounded.

Director of education services Geraint Ellis said: " There will not be a dispersal of pupils into other schools."

He said there had been a gradual integration of those with moderate special needs into mainstream education over the last few years, and that most pupils taught at the school now had severe needs.

The school teaches 76 pupils between the ages of 3-19 with a wide spectrum of special needs.

The local authority says facilities at the school are a priority

David Hughes says its last group of pupils with moderate needs is to leave this summer.

Mr Hughes said he had hoped to turn the school into a centre of excellence whose facilities would be available to all, before the plans were announced.

There are 1,148 special schools in the UK, but 91 have closed since 1997.

The Conservative education spokesman David Cameron has called for an immediate halt to the closure of special schools.

He said the pendulum had swung too far in favour of including pupils with special needs into mainstream education.

The government says there has been no systematic reduction of special needs school places since 1997.