PUPILS and teachers are hoping their stunning school conservation area will be kept for educational use long after their school closes in 2004.

Fulford Cross School, a special school in York for children with moderate learning difficulties and emotional and behavioural difficulties, has a two-acre conservation area in its grounds.

It consists of a large lake with its own island, woodland areas, grassland and observation and pond-dipping platforms, and was developed to the tune of £16,500 two years ago.

The school is due to close in 2004 as part of a reorganisation of York's special school system, but staff and pupils hope the outdoor area can remain as an educational resource for all pupils.

It is already shared with other schools, which often make visits.

Pupils from St George's RC Primary School visited this week to work with Fulford Cross pupils on the building of a willow tunnel.

The project was overseen by the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, and took two days to complete. Funding was provided through a City of York Council specialist science teacher initiative.

Teacher Phil Bunting said: "The project has been developed to enhance the area as well as offering invaluable inclusion opportunities for a group of pupils, in preparation for the closure of Fulford Cross School in 2004.

"It is hoped that the conservation area, referred to by Ofsted as being an 'area of outstanding beauty', will be recognised for the potential it offers as a first-class educational resource for pupils attending schools within the City of York, long after the closure of the school."

The most recent school closures in York have seen little land kept in council ownership. Queen Anne School closed in summer 2000, and the entire site was sold to the neighbouring independent school, St Peter's.

Oaken Grove Primary School, in Haxby is to close this summer, and the council is proposing that half of it should be sold for housing development.

The Shipton Street site of Clifton Green Primary School is also to close this summer, although no proposals have yet been revealed by the council.

A spokesman said a report outlining options was set to come before councillors in June or July.

Updated: 11:39 Friday, March 15, 2002