BOLTON education experts will today meet with officers from Her Majesty's Inspectorate (HMI) to discuss the way forward for a troubled high school.

But a council report has revealed that action already taken over the failing Deane School may have saved it from having to close its doors.

The Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) has pledged to pump £210,000 into The Deane School over the next three years in a bid to revive its fortunes.

Earlier this month the BEN revealed that the school on Junction Road had been placed under "Special Measures" after a damning Ofsted report revealed it is failing its 800 pupils.

Ofsted has recommended the school needs to improve GCSE results, quality of teaching, staff morale and pupil behaviour.

The school's board of governors, led by Gordon Asquith, now have until early May to produce an action plan for the future which will be backed-up by the LEA's own action plan.

The LEA has put together a 16-strong team to work to support the school and develop the action plan.

The council report states that the secondment of Rivington and Blackrod High deputy head Les Price to address the supply teacher problem is beginning to show results with a "greater level of teacher stability".

At one stage before Christmas a quarter of The Deane's 47 teaching staff had reported sick.

Bolton's chief education adviser Brian Shaw said this was now down to eight and longer contracts for supply teachers had improved continuity of teaching for pupils.

Representatives from the school have also met with other secondary schools, primary schools and Bolton's ethnic minority in a bid to enlist support for The Deane.

Appropriate

The report adds: "The DfEE clearly feel the LEA has taken appropriate action so far and has the capacity to complete the task."

It says that as a school working in "challenging circumstances" it is entitled to an extra £70,000 this year and the same amount over the next two years as a school requiring special measures.

And continues that the DfEE has determined that The Deane does not appear to look like a "fresh start" type problem at present. A DfEE spokesman explained to the BEN that the "fresh start" was a last resort measure applied to schools in special measures.

"It basically means that we would have to close the school and re-open a new one with a new identity on the same site," the spokesman said. "This can be a difficult process and can entail a lot of upheaval so it is always seen as the very last step we take."

The LEA now plan to appoint more staff to The Deane's senior management team and appoint a school manager to work alongside acting head Victor Batrak to help bring the school out of special measures within two years.

Mr Shaw told a meeting of the council's Education Scrutinee Committee that he would be meeting with the HMI to discuss the progress made so far.

And he told the BEN that the school's role within the community now needed to be restored.

"We want to encourage people into the school and let people know about the progress that is being made," he said. "But this is something we can only do with the help of the parents.

"We recently had a Parents' Evening at the school and just five per cent of the parents turned up which is unacceptable.

"We need to restore faith in the school and the parents have accepted they have a part to play."