THE description ''special school'' seems misplaced to anyone who visits Stourminster School, Kidderminster.

Surrounded by well kept play areas, there is nothing unusual about the school except perhaps a brighter atmosphere than in many other schools and its immaculate tidiness.

Headteacher Ian Hardicker and a team of 15 full-time teachers (out of 38 staff altogether) see no reason why the 157 pupils there should not have the same schoolife, timetable and class subjects as any other schoolchildren.

Certain extra skills are required when working with children who need special individual attention to make the best of their abilities. Unlike mainstream schools, the measure of achievement is not exam results. Rewards are much more about ensuring children leave the school able to take their place in society in employment and managing their lives.

''A former pupil here now in landscape gardening was able to help with work experience placements. That is where you find rewards,'' he said.

Mr Hardicker, a family man with two teenage children and a liking for mountain walking, has made his career a series of challenges.

It started when studying for his qualification at Bedford College. He decided teaching children with special educational needs was a testing area that interested him. ''I wanted to deal with children who find life difficult. I felt there was more to be achieved,'' he said.

He went on to take an advanced diploma at London University and took his first position at a Buckinghamshire residential school for children with emotional difficulties.

Helping children with problems took him to a number of schools including a Herefordshire unit for autistic children and two years running a unit for excluded pupils in Birmingham.

The latter was a failing school and he was drafted in at a time of crisis to turn it round. It was a ''tough'' post, but characteristically he gained satisfaction from his achievements there. Stourminster, one of three special schools in Wyre Forest and larger than most in the field, is Mr Hardicker's second headship after Tyntesfield, Rugby.

He feels more like a chief executive but there is a challenge here too in balancing budgets, dealing with administration, curriculum, new government targets and all the other non-teaching tasks. But he does manage some sessions a week teaching geography.

The school is for children of moderate learning difficulties in small classes, averaging 15.

The noticeboards, neatly filled with examples of projects, Outward Bound excursions and conservation ventures are illustrative of the philosophy: ''Every child can learn and the education of all children is equal.'' That, he makes clear, is the most important challenge of all.