Plans for a major consultation into the closure of Queen Anne Secondary School and expansion of Canon Lee School have been given the go-ahead by city councillors.

The consultation will last for seven weeks and include meetings with governors, parents and teachers, public consultation meetings at both schools and meetings of teachers' unions.

The committee proposes Canon Lee School is made bigger to provide 900 places to 11 to 16-year-olds, while Queen Anne School will close in the summer of 2000.

Members agreed at an education committee meeting last night that particular regard would be given to staff arrangements and pupil transfers during the consultation process.

Coun Janet Looker, chairing the meeting, said it was important the council acted quickly to put parents, children and staff at ease.

She said: "Queen Anne School has suffered for far too long - no-one was prepared to take action. We should not let parents, teachers and children carry on in a state of uncertainty."

Coun Looker rejected claims Canon Lee School was too cramped to take the extra pupils, saying a new two-storey extension would provide more classrooms without taking up much space.

She said it was the only option open to them after earlier plans to merge the two schools were thrown out by the Government.

"We cannot fund empty places and must use resources sensibly. The children in that area deserve the best quality education and we should use resources to expand on the strengths of both schools."

Queen Anne, just off Bootham, is less than half full, with only 314 pupils in a school capable of accommodating 723. There are over 3,000 surplus places in York schools at a cost of £300,000 to the education authority.

Dr David Sellick, chairman of the Queen Anne governors, said he reluctantly accepted the plans and was satisfied pupils and staff would be treated sensitively.

But Sheila Evans, who chairs the school's Parent Teachers' Association, said today they would write to parents telling them they would oppose the closure.

Mrs Evans, whose 15-year-old son Callum is a pupil at the school, said she had been told not all pupils would be accepted into Canon Lee School, which was her main concern.

"Where are the children going to go? And who will take the low achievers? At the moment we're trying to reassure parents, but we need their help to oppose the closure," she said.

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