A TARGET date for Penn School, the school for deaf and disabled children, to leave the ownership of the London Borough of Camden and become run by an independent trust, has been given as June 1.

Two committees of the borough agreed the sale last week.

If all goes to plan, the new owners will be the The Rayner Special Educational Trust, set up in 1998 to save the school when Camden decided it wanted to pull out.

Sign, the deaf charity which had intended to buy the whole site and allow the trust to run the school, is no longer involved.

John Tripp, chairman of the Rayners trust, said: "Pupils, parents, staff and the local community have fought to ensure that this very special school, with its caring and expert staff, survives.

"We are confident that the school has a future in which it can expand and prosper and we can now take our plans forward."

Camden took over the school from the Inner London Education Authority in 1990. But numbers had been falling and the council decided to close the school and use money from the sale on its own projects for Camden children with special educational needs.

Mohammed Mehmet, Camden's assistant director of education, said: "We have always been determined that Penn School would have a secure, prosperous future after we sold it and this deal makes sure of that.

"The school's provision for deaf children will continue and staff jobs at the school will be secure. Money from the sale can be invested in improving provision for special educational needs in Camden."

Steve Powell, of Sign, said the charity was no longer involved with the sale. It had intended to finance the deal by development in the school grounds for which planning applications had been put in.

He said a planning appeal on July 17 had been withdrawn. Sign has written to people in Penn and Tylers Green explaining the situation.