CONTROVERSIAL changes to a leading special school in Maidstone involving transferring some pupils elsewhere could be put on hold.

County councillors want education chiefs to look again at plans for Bower Grove Community Special School after parents complained the shake-up would not help their children’s education.

Kent County Council has set out proposals that would see Bower Grove, which currently has 212 pupils with a wide range of disabilities and learning difficulties, cater for less than 100 aged five to 16.

As part of the planned changes, about 24 autistic pupils and others with communication problems would be taught in other local schools.

But parents have voiced fears the re-designation of the school would not help their children and could set back the education of those moved to mainstream schools.

While governors accept some of the changes, they too oppose moving autistic pupils away and have called on KCC to allow the school to continue to teach them.

As part of KCC’s plan, those pupils who did not settle in ordinary schools would return to special education – but at the Five Acre Wood special school, also in Maidstone.

At a meeting of KCC’s Schools Advisory Board, parents handed in a petition signed by 180 people opposing the changes.

Councillors urged education chiefs to defer their decision to allow time for a rethink.

They accused KCC of trying to force changes at Bower Grove to fit in with a wider blueprint for change at all of the county’s special schools.

Local Maidstone county councillor Dan Daley said: “Everyone knows that this school is extremely well thought of. There has to be a diverse range of disabilities to maintain the balance. The council is in danger of making a model it wants everyone to conform to when it is not like that on the ground.”

Maidstone and Weald MP Ann Widdecombe has also told KCC she is unconvinced by the changes and believes that Bower Grove “has the expertise and facilities to deal with this vulnerable group.”

After the meeting, parents gave a cautious welcome to the news of a possible rethink.

Father Peter Lodemore, who has a ten-year-son with autism at the school, said: “No-one is particularly happy that this is delaying the decision but we would rather have a delay than lose pupils to other schools which do not have the capacity or expertise that Bower has.”

Children who attended Bower needed the caring environment it offered and would not be helped if they had to cope with the trauma of switching to different schools, he added.

KCC’s cabinet member for schools, Cllr Leyland Ridings (Con) will decide what steps to take in the New Year. One option is for a fresh consultation looking at revised plans for both Bower Grange and Five Acre Wood.