DEAF pupils are being sent to Penn School again as Local Education Authorities realise that the school is not about to close.

Acting head Mary Nest-Richardson expects to have at least 25 pupils in September. Numbers had dropped because the owners, Camden Borough Council, had put a ban on new pupils in expectation of shutting the school and selling it.

But, barring accidents, the school will stay open.

The new owners will be the The Rayner Special Educational Trust, set up in 1998 to save Penn School when Camden decided it wanted to pull out.

Penn School has space for 60 deaf and otherwise disabled pupils, who stay there until they are 16.

One of the school's latest success stories is 16-year-old Kibarye Ercan, who came to the school with her sister Alev from Turkey 18 months ago.

Both girls have Usher's Syndrome, which means they are profoundly deaf and are losing their sight.

"They came here with no English and no sign language," said Mrs Richardson.

"In the past 18 months they have both learned English and sign language, can hold a good communication in Sign and can read and write English at basic level."

Kibarye had just taken Certificate of Educational Achievement examinations and got a distinction in arts subjects, a pass in maths and a merit in life skills, she said.

The sale to the Rayner Trust has missed the target date of June 1 and now trust chairman John Tripp thinks it will be September 1. But the loan to buy the school has been signed with one of the smaller banks and, in May, Camden Council agreed to sell to the trust.

A legal delay over the change of ownership of two properties on the site, rented to members of staff, is all that is holding things up.

Sign, the deaf charity, which had intended to buy the whole site and allow the trust to run the school, is no longer involved. So, the planning applications and the planning appeals, made by Sign to develop the grounds to raise the money to pay back the loan, no longer apply.

Mr Tripp said a new scheme would have to be submitted, because the bank would want to recover its loan.

But he said he could live with something like the original application as Penn and Tylers Green needed old people's accommodation and a day centre and the doctors needed a new surgery.