IT is the special school at the centre of shocking sex abuse claims.

As a major police investigation continues into allegations made by two former pupils at Stanbridge Earls School near Romsey, calls have been made for it to shut down until children’s safety is assured.

But last night a Hampshire MP made a plea for the £32,000-a-year school to be kept open to avoid stress to current pupils and parents.

Romsey and Southampton North MP Caroline Nokes said there were “significant benefits” for current students in keeping the school open.

She added that demands for Stanbridge Earls to close were “causing real distress” to current pupils and that some parents feared not being able to find alternative education for their children.

She added: “If changes to the leadership of the school are to be made, which is something the school must ask if there is a need for, it must be ensured those changes are not done to appease the understandable anger of some parents, but grounded in sound reason.

“We need both continuity for existing pupils, but for it to be demonstrated past problems cannot be repeated, and where there has been failure, there is also accountability.

“I have no doubt there are significant benefits for the current pupils in keeping the school open, and I am aware of the school’s commitment to work with outside agencies and local authorities to ensure the many positives which Stanbridge Earls offers can continue.”

School bosses say they are working with authorities to put an action plan in place.

A tribunal has already found that one teenage girl faced abuse at the hands of another student having been groomed with explicit texts.

After the hearing her family and their legal team called for the school’s registration to be suspended “until it is evident that pupils’ safety is secured”.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal found earlier this year that the school had discriminated against a girl and that a number of staff members failed to tell the youngster’s parents that she had complained of pain in an intimate part of her body.

Head teacher Peter Trythall has been accused of “a failure of responsibility” while the Nursing and Midwifery Council confirmed that school nurse Melanie Bavington was under investigation.

The vulnerable youngster was found to have suffered “appalling abuse” at the hands of another student while the school was slammed by panel members for being “unsystematic, unprofessional, ad hoc and completely inadequate” when it came to protecting the youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The tribunal later ruled that the school should pay the family £86,000 for costs they built up during the proceedings.

Parents of the youngster have since said behaviour at the school “was like something out of Lord of the Flies” and have called for the facility to be closed and new management put in place.

SEN Legal, the company representing the family, later said a number of parents and former pupils had approached them with “strikingly similar” allegations.

Detectives from Hampshire Constabulary’s public protection department are examining whether “further criminal offences” have been committed against other youngsters attending the school, which caters for children with learning disabilities.

This includes allegations of sexual abuse of a second girl between September and December 2010. This is a joint investigation with Hampshire County Council’s children’s services department.

The Department for Education has described the sex abuse allegations as “deeply disturbing” while the council has said it is fulfilling its “statutory responsibilities” to ensure the welfare of children at the school.

A spokesman said: “As with all independent schools, the registering authority and the regulatory body is the Department for Education, so this limits the role of the host local authority.

“Hampshire County Council has led an exercise to ensure that every child is currently being properly safeguarded.

“Planned discussions with parents and children have been taking place.”

Bosses at the school have declined to make further comment but previously told of their “deep regret” about the abuse allegations and added that it was determined to learn any broader lessons for safeguarding its pupils.

To do this it said it would be working with police, Ofsted, local authorities and the Department of Education.