A CHILD harmed himself for the first time since joining an under-threat residential school after hearing headteacher David Smith had quit due to Cheshire LEA 'meddling' in the way the school is run.

Ross Brookes, who has the behavioural condition Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, used to get so frustrated he would regularly hurt himself, often gouging deep scratches into his arms.

Teachers believed the 15-year-old couldn't sit still long enough to ever be capable of taking any exams, but since starting at Cloughwood School in Hartford six years ago, Ross has excelled in his studies and will sit 10 GCSEs this year.

But the progress Ross has made at Cloughwood has been put in jeopardy by the LEA's plans to take day students at what is currently a residential school.

That has forced Mr Smith plus seven other teachers to hand in their notice - and he has now decided to leave the school at the end of next year rather than stay on to do A-levels.

'I used to scratch myself, but I hadn't done in years up until I was told Mr Smith was leaving,' admitted Ross.

'I felt very angry because of the way the LEA is interfering and how they want to change the school. They should just leave it alone.'

Mr Smith quit Cloughwood after 24 years of service due to the LEA's decision to allow day pupils into the residential school. He feels the decision will disrupt the stability of pupils and believes the new era will not match up to the high standards set in the past.

'The teachers feel like family because we spend so much time at the school,' said Ross. 'It feels like losing part of your family. Half of the children at Cloughwood are too young to realise what is happening, but the others are all upset.

'It is not just teachers who have left; some of the other staff have gone as well. I have lost my 'dorm parent', Miss Hallett, she is a member of staff who was like a mum.

'Most of the consistency has gone. Most of the staff that I had the most respect for are leaving.

'We have not seen any of the new staff that are going to replace them. We are meant to just get on with them as if we know and trust them. In the past any new teachers always came in to meet us before they started. Now we don't know what things are going to be like when we go back.'