The West Midlands worst school for GCSE and truancy rates is facing closure, it has emerged.

The threat hanging over Kings Norton High School in Birmingham means plans to turn it into an academy sponsored by Black Country property developers the Richardson family could also be scrapped.

Closure is one of the options facing the school amid concern that a housing clearing and regeneration scheme in the area will see a fall in population.

One option being considered is to mothball the school, with the hope that pupil numbers may go up once the home-building scheme is complete.

However, council officials fear the project could result in the school becoming non-viable in terms of numbers.

A carefully-worded statement from Birmingham City Council said the Three Estates regeneration "contributes to an exciting opportunity to review and plan appropriate educational provision in that part of the city".

"It is also clear that in the immediate future during the house clearance the projected number of young people will fall.

"As low numbers of pupils in schools contribute to their vulnerability, the Children, Young People and Families directorate is recommending that a number of options are explored to ensure the best possible way forward for the young people and families in Kings Norton."

A council source confirmed a question mark hung over the future of the school and closure was one of the options being considered.

Roger King, head of the Birmingham branch of the National Union of Teachers, said: "The council is considering shutting down Kings Norton High School. They are saying in demographic terms there isn't going to be the children in that area to support the intake."

Last year, Birmingham City Council announced that Richardsons Capital was to sponsor one of seven secondaries set to be turned into academies.

The developer was set to provide £2 million towards developing the academy and would offer long term support in a bid to boost attainment in the area.

Mr King said: "It is unbelievable that the council would have gone to all that expense and gone all that way and not done a simple investigation to see if that area would support an academy.

"It is typical of their short-sightedness and lack of attention to detail of what is the best way forward for education in this city."

Ian Brough, spokesman for the Richardsons, said: "We are in a waiting and see position for the local authority to determine our way forward.

"We are just on hold waiting for them to come back to us. They might mothball the school until the work has taken place on the three estates and they can see whether there will be a fresh intake of people into them."

League tables published earlier this year show Kings Norton High had the worst pass rate for five or more A* to Cs at GCSE including English and maths regionally, with only 13 per cent of teenagers hitting the Government target.

The school's truancy rate was also well above the Birmingham average with 7.9 per cent of half-day sessions lost due to unauthorised absence compared to the city's average of 1.5 per cent.

Kings Norton, which serves an area of high deprivation, was given notice to improve by Ofsted last year following an inspection which rated the school's overall performance "inadequate".

The school's head, Denise Burns, claimed the school was improving, but needed time for changes to bed in.