IT is very concerning today to hear of the continuing problems at Burnley’s ‘super schools’.

The £250million Building Schools for the Future programme saw old schools bulldozed, the pupil roll ripped up and historic school names put in the bin.

But today, five years after the replacements first opened and nine months after state-of-the-art new buildings opened, Hameldon Community College and Blessed Trinity College have been found to be failing.

BSF has long been dogged by problems.

Several schools have previously been criticised by Ofsted, while a new government table for GCSE performance ranked Burnley as bottom in the country earlier this year.

The evidence suggests that BSF has so far failed to deliver where it matters - in the classroom.

In some cases the replacement schools are performing worse than those they replaced.

The brand new buildings are fantastic but pupils thrive on strong leadership and quality teaching.

Some of the best schools in East Lancashire are in ugly 1960s buildings.

Council bosses constantly ask for more time to be judged. But it is time to deliver.

Parents in Blackburn with Darwen where a similar BSF scheme is about to come into force will be hoping lessons have been learned from the problems in Burnley.