PARENTS at a Charlton special needs school are "not happy" after being told vulnerable sixth-formers will be moved to a new off-site centre which they fear is less "safe".

Charlton Park Academy, in Charlton Park Road, will have a new base for its sixth form in the Woolwich Common Estate from September this year following an increase in student applications.

But parents are worried the new site off Nightingale Vale – close to an off-licence and parade of shops – will be unsafe and unsettling for pupils and are angry they were not consulted properly on the move.

Tina Nash, whose son Danny, 17, suffers from autism, said: "We’re not very happy.

"For a start, the crime around there is not that good - it doesn’t seem very safe to be walking around. "And there is an off-licence around the corner.

"He’s been at the school for five years and it’s taken that long to trust the school so for them to just move, he is going to be quite shaken up."

The 42-year-old added: "He seems to be thriving at the school – that is why I don’t want him to go backwards."

The "popular" secondary school for 11 to 19-year-olds with low incidence special needs decided on the Ezra Centre – the site of a former nursery school next to the Woolwich Common Community Centre - after an unusually high number of admissions with more than 40 pupils joining in September.

MP Clive Efford echoed families’ concerns that they had not been consulted properly on the move and that they were "uncomfortable" with the location for students with learning difficulties.

A spokeswoman for Charlton Park Academy said: "Charlton Park Academy continues to be a very popular secondary special school.

"To accommodate a larger number of admissions than usual in September 2013, the school has been exploring options to address capacity issues so as to ensure all students’ educational needs can be well met.

"Delivering horticulture and construction modules, creating new calm and sensory circuit rooms, creating specialist therapy rooms and small group teaching spaces are all being discussed."

She added that no students would be permanently based at the new site but gave no timetable for how often pupils would move between the two venues.

She went on to say the school would continue to work closely with Greenwich Council over the planning and handover and reassured parents they would be kept informed at each stage with any issues responded to swiftly.