THE head-teacher of a Witherslack primary school claims its future could be hanging in the balance if a residential school for vulnerable girls opens next door.

There has been over-whelming opposition from teachers and governors of Dean Barwick Primary School, parents and villagers to stop plans to convert neighbouring hotel and restaurant The Old Vicarage into a special school for up to 21 pupils.

The group, who has the backing of Witherslack, Meathop and Ulpha Parish Council, has mounted a campaign - furiously writing letters of opposition and submitting a petition of more than 100 local signatures to planners at the LDNPA who decide the fate of The Old Vicarage on Monday.

Head teacher at Dean Barwick Primary School Tim Fletcher fears that, if plans get the green light, the long-term survival of the school could be jeopardised:

"I have had three parents representing four children come in and say they will remove them from the school and another two parents are no longer considering us as an option next year if this goes ahead.

That is very significant for us."

"This is a good school and there are lots of good schools round here and parents are going to look at the other schools on offer and ask if they are prepared to take that risk."

A banner that reads `Save Dean Barwick School - No more special school' now hangs in the playground.

Chairman of governors Vivienne Curtis, whose five-year-old son Sam attends the school, said that the situation was not a case of nimbyism.

She feels that the village, which is also home to Witherslack Hall special school for boys, is just too small for another one: "It is not that we are against this school in principle.

We have already got one (special school), which does have an impact on the village, and the feeling is that we do our bit.

In the parents' mind it is the perceived risk of what could go wrong between children at the two schools - verbal exchanges and worse.

Our children are unsophisticated country kids."

Applicant for the new special school Pam Redican, former head teacher of the Garden School at Kirkby Lonsdale, refused to comment.

However, she told the Gazette in August that she believed villagers had got the "wrong impression" about the girls who would be "young school phobics, vulnerable girls, quiet and withdrawn."

l The LDNPA's development control committee is being recommended to approve the application and a report to Monday's meeting says: "The proposal would not have an unacceptable impact upon the character of the locality or the village of Witherslack by virtue of the nature or level of activity associated with the use or traffic generation."