A MULTI-million pound shake-up in education could see children with special needs attend two new schools.

Plans have been announced for two buildings, costing £11m, to replace four existing schools in the Wear Valley and Sedgefield areas.

The plans will go before both district councils for approval. The four schools scheduled for closure are: Murphy Crescent and Warwick Road Schools, in Bishop Auckland, Whitworth School, Spennymoor, and Rosebank Special School, Ferryhill.

A spokesman for Durham County Council, the local education authority, said: "All four schools are housed in buildings that are at the end of their useful life. They do not have accommodation that can be adapted to meet the needs of pupils with more severe and complex learning disabilities. Murphy Crescent is being housed in temporary buildings after a fire at its original site three years ago.''

A report reveals that the two new schools will be built on land presently occupied by Warwick Road School and Whitworth School.

They will be designed to cater for a much wider range of special educational needs than the four existing schools.

The idea comes after the council announced its intentions to reorganise special schools in the south west of the county in 1999.

The new school at Warwick Road will cater for 160 primary school youngsters and the Whitworth School site will care for 200 secondary students aged 11 to 19.

Whitworth and Warwick Road currently cater for 174 and 100 students respectively, all with moderate learning difficulties.

Rosebank and Murphy Crescent have look after youngsters with severe learning difficulties and have 37 and 35 students respectively.

All four schools had Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) inspections during the Autumn term and each received positive and supportive reports, but the local education authority feels that to reach targets set for special schools a shake-up is needed.

The spokesman said: "We are particularly eager to meet the needs of as many of our most vulnerable pupils as possible."