The immediate future of the special needs facility at Jurby School could be known later today (Friday).

With the unit due to shut next week, an application for an interim injunction against the closure will be filed this morning.

The Department of Education blamed a shift in demand for special needs schooling when it announced in May that the facility, which teaches four pupils, was to close.

But that prompted parents to mount a legal challenge to keep the unit open with nearly 2,000 people signing a petition.

Fred and Lynda Stokes, whose nine year-old son Jamie has Down's syndrome and is taught there, have lodged a petition of doleance with the High Court, challenging the legality of the process by which the decision was taken.

That hearing is due to be heard until late November.

(Pictured - Education Minister David Anderson)