EDUCATION bosses were today accused of leaving pupils and staff at a failing high school 'to rot' for six months after announcing it was to close.

Opposition councillors, parents and union officials rounded on Blackburn with Darwen Council after the Lancashire Evening Telegraph obtained an inspection report revealing the state of Queen's Park Technology College in Blackburn.

The school is due to close today, to be replaced after the Easter holidays by a new school on the same site, with the same pupils, but only eight of the 40 original teachers.

In September, council bosses took the decision to close the school this month and re-open it in April, after it returned some of the worst GCSE results in the country, just months after being put in special measures.

But the interim report by Ofsted inspectors, intended for internal council use, found that the announcement had a devastating impact on the school, and stated that it led to 'the process of school improvement being significantly curtailed'.

Inspectors also found that:

l Up to a third of staff were off on any one day, many through long-term sickness

l The closure announcement led to pupils' behaviour and attendance deteriorating badly

l Attempts to improve poor teaching were ditched as soon as the closure announcement was made

l The leadership of the school had been 'left beleaguered'

Coun Paul Browne, leader of Blackburn with Darwen Liberal Democrats, said: "This report shows the pupils have been left to rot as Labour looks for an easy way out."

However, the inspectors also found 18.5 per cent of GCSE pupils were expected to get five or more exams at grades A* to C -- up from 11 per cent last year.

Around £500,000 has so far been spent on redundancy packages for staff not appointed to the new school -- to be called Blakewater College -- and £300,000 earmarked for the salaries of eight senior managers, including £85,000 a year for new superhead Lee Harris.

Faced with the huge figures a union has accused the school's governing body of "making a final insult" to the teachers being axed in the shake-up -- deciding to mark their service by handing each of them a £25 gift voucher.

One parent, whose 14-year-old daughter attends the school and who asked not to be named, said: "Children never know from one day to the next which teacher will be taking them. It is though everything has been put on hold until next term. You can't just stop for six months without damaging children. If I could move my daughter, I would."

Another mum added: "My son does his GCSEs in a few weeks but his results will suffer."

Leader of the Conservative group on Blackburn with Darwen Council, Colin Rigby, said: "Rather than get stuck in and help the pupils already there, they made this quick fix announcement to shut the school and put a new one there because it gets them out of special measures and removes a black mark from the council's record. Those that have suffered the most are the pupils."

But council leader Kate Hollern said: "The last few months have been difficult for all concerned but we have done all we can to support those there and we will continue to once the new school opens."

THE NASUWT is furious that for some of its members it represents less than two pence per year in service.

Blackburn with Darwen branch's Lesley Ham said: "Teachers not being kept on have been told by the governors they will be getting a £25 gift voucher -- this golden handshake is quite an insult."

But chairman of governors Peter Dawson stressed the vouchers were meant as "a gesture" rather than a reflection of the teacher's worth.