TWO Southampton schools face closure as part of a major overhaul of secondary education in the city.

Education bosses have unveiled proposals to close Millbrook Community School and Grove Park business and Enterprise College as they attempt to remove 1,000 surplus places across the city.

The schools' head teachers yesterday delivered the shock announcement to around 125 teachers and support staff who now face the prospect of losing their jobs.

Senior staff at Millbrook had hoped for a merger with Oaklands School on the existing Millbrook site in Green Lane, which is also home to the popular Down to Earth city farm. However, following a consultation earlier this year, which attracted 2,700 responses, education bosses have opted to recommend Millbrook's closure next year and expand the Oaklands site instead.

The 500-pupil school's head teacher, Tony Cotton, who has overseen standards improve during recent years, declined to comment. His chairman of governors David Fawcett said: "We are absolutely devastated for Tony, the teachers, the parents and the pupils. "Millbrook has had its problems in the past but the school was really starting to turn around."

Staff are angry that the latest final recommendation for closure was not part of the original consultation proposals. On the east of the city education bosses have left the headteacher, staff and governors of Grove Park shocked by proposing its closure despite that option not being included in the original spring consultation. Head teacher Eric Freeman said: "It is so difficult to accept that such a radical change from a proposal of expansion and co-education, to school closure, can happen so quickly."

Mr Freeman said he could not understand how closure could be justified when educational standards were rising and Year 7 applications were up by nearly 30 places on last year. The 630-pupil school also achieved specialist business and enterprise status last year with £100,000 ploughed into resources and a new £1.3m sports complex for pupils and residents opened.

Other plans include Sholing Technology College admitting boys for the first time in Year 7 from September 2008.

Both Bitterne Park School and Redbridge Community Schools are due to expand while Woolston School will remain on its current site.

Clive Webster, executive director for children's services and learning said: "Were we to do nothing we would continue to be in a position of spending valuable tax-payers' money on maintaining a very high number of empty places in many of our schools. Instead that money can go to better teaching and learning."

The consultation period for Millbrook's fate will be six weeks. A final decision will be made in the autumn. Depending on the outcome of Grove Park's first consultation a second six week review could be carried out in the autumn.