Two years of uncertainty over the future of three specialist schools has finally been lifted.

The three schools -- Woodeaton Manor, Iffley Mead and Northfield -- all near Oxford, had been threatened with closure or mergers as part of cost cutting by Oxfordshire County Council.

But they are being saved from the axe after the county council decided to streamline and overhaul services.

The council is now expected to forge ahead with plans to allow Woodeaton Manor to be re-invented to cater for 40 vulnerable children with emotional and social difficulties.

It will also have 17 residential places and facilities for therapy.

The work will follow a conservation study, needed because Woodeaton Manor is a Grade II listed building within the Oxford Green Belt.

Iffley Mead will continue to focus on children with moderate learning difficulties, while Northfield will be reduced in size from 80-60 pupils to help relieve pressure there.

Northfield will care for children with emotional, social and behavioural problems.

Despite the proposals, there is still fear over the future among Woodeaton staff.

Alex Double, a teacher at Woodeaton, told the council's executive yesterday (April 7): "There has been no gesture of goodwill from the council to teachers nor a letter of assurance about the security of our future, as promised in February.

"The governors can't advertise for a head because the school, in its new form, doesn't yet exist."

Mr Double, who explained that he was representing the entire staff, warned that there was a danger teachers would leave Woodeaton for guaranteed employment elsewhere if the council was unable to make a firm commitment to them that their jobs were safe.

"We have endured two years of instability and the hands of staff are tied when crucial planning for the new school should be taking place," he said.

Seventy-five per cent of similar schools throughout the country were failing, he claimed, adding: "We don't want to be one of those."

Gillian Tee, the council's head of children's services, accepted that it was a "very difficult and unsettling" time for staff, but no cast-iron pledges could be given while there were still loose ends to be tied.

Tony Crabbe, the executive member for schools, said: "This has been rumbling on for two years. It's important that this hangs in the air no longer."

Anne Purse, member for waste management, strategy and partnerships, said no-one should have been put through the anxiety that teachers and parents had suffered over many years. She added: "This mustn't be a temporary solution."