AN East Lancashire special school which follows the ethos 'working together, aiming high' has been praised by a team of government inspectors for its good relationships between staff, pupils and parents and the local community as a whole.

But North Cliffe School, in Blackburn Old Road, Great Harwood, has also come under fire for an underdeveloped curriculum and spending below the recommended amount of time teaching older pupils, in its latest Ofsted report.

A team of inspectors who visited the school in May found the strengths of the school outweighed any weaknesses, that it offered satisfactory value for money and that it had made marked improvement since the last inspection in 1995.

They praised the senior management team for providing clear, strategic direction, the relationships across the school and the provision for pupils' cultural, spiritual, social and moral development, as well as partnerships with parents and the community. The careers education and guidance were also found to be good.

Overall, teaching at the school was satisfactory, with 15 per cent very good or excellent, 27 per cent good and just five per cent unsatisfactory or poor. But they criticised the development of pupils' key skills in literacy, numeracy and information technology, found individual education plans to be inconsistent and that the amount of time teaching secondary pupils at the school did not meet recommendations issued by the Department of Education and Employment.

They also found pupils' attendance to be unsatisfactory.

The school has now been given six key issues to address and will form an action plan.

Of the 62 pupils on roll, most have moderate learning difficulties, some have emotional and behavioural difficulties and a small number have specific or severe learning difficulties.

Chairman of governors R Clarke, said: "The inspection clearly reflects the progress the school has made and provides us with a firm foundation on which to build.

"The inspection team have highlighted some issues which will improve the quality of the school, however. Many issues are already in hand."

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