A SPECIALIST pupil referral unit for youngsters who need to be taught outside of schools is likely to be expanded.

Durham County Council hopes to extend an existing facility for youngsters who have been excluded or suspended from their primary or secondary schools.

The council operates a pupil referral unit from part of Rosebank School, in Ferryhill, to ensure youngsters withdrawn from the classroom do not miss out on education.

The proposal could also lead to a single-storey extension to the east of the building to provide a new design technology and art room.

A ramp and handrail will also be installed to the new part of the building to provide disabled access, if the council approves the plans.

It aims to use the entire building when the school closes in the summer to move to the new Evergreen School, in Bishop Auckland.

Rosebank is one of four special schools, along with Warwick Road and Murphy Crescent, in Bishop Auckland, and Whitworth, in Spennymoor, being closed as part of a shake-up in county schools.

Children will move to either Evergreen, which will cater for up to 160 youngsters aged two to 11, or The Oaks, being developed in the grounds of Whitworth School, to take up to 200 pupils aged 11 to 19.