Education bosses have temporarily closed a special school over concerns about health and safety, safeguarding, and students' wellbeing.

Furness School in Hextable, near Swanley, caters for children with behavioural and emotional difficulties with both boarding and day students.

Kent County Council has now taken over "direct management" of the school and closed it on Wednesday, May 16. A KCC spokesman said concerns had been raised in the past few months.

KCC's corporate director for education, learning and skills, Patrick Leeson, said: "Kent County Council has decided to close Furness School, until Monday June 11, to address concerns about health and safety, safeguarding and student wellbeing."

He said that year 11 students will sit their GCSE exams in the school as planned.

He added: "During the closure, KCC will review the management and teaching in the school and put a team in place to ensure the school can operate effectively when it re-opens in June.

"Families of students at the school will be kept to up-to-date on a regular basis."

The school in Rowhill Road, Hextable, got a satisfactory in its Ofsted in 2010 and had 68 pupils on its roll at the time.