A TROUBLESHOOTING headteacher today revealed the secret of his school's rapid improvement - just seven months after it was placed in special measures.

Darwen Moorland High School could be out of the education watchdog Ofsted's control by autumn next year - six months ahead of schedule.

Trouble-shooting headteacher Gareth Dawkins today revealed that the school is fully staffed and GCSE grades A*-C were up nine per cent this summer.

It means that unlike Blackburn's Queen's Park Technology College, which was also branded as failing in February and will now close in April, Moorland is making the grade after a strict turn around.

Now, after a positive Her Majesty's Inspectorate (HMI) inspection in June, the head has even begun talks with Blackburn with Darwen education bosses about extending his temporary contract well beyond next year.

He credits a range of initiatives for turning around standards, behaviour, attitudes, leadership and management which were all found to be unsatisfactory by inspectors.

Instead of a "beleaguered and battered" senior management team there have been eight new appointments, from teachers to managers.

Since being drafted in from Bradford's Challenge College in Easter, where his leadership was said to be "outstanding", the number of days of pupil exclusion has been slashed from 400 a term to under 80 and no pupils have had to be permanently excluded compared to 12 the year before.

The number of pupils getting GCSE A* to C grades was up from 21 to 30 per cent on last year.

"We've been asked to build a plane as well as fly it so to speak but the main work has been done on clarification - our response to bad behaviour, consequences, support mechanisms and hierarchy and it seems to be working," said Mr Dawkins, who imposed a minimum length for school ties and skirts shortly after his arrival.

"The notion that there are no good teachers to recruit here is a myth. Two teachers have even come from a Beacon school in Stockport after identifying the potential in the school. The community spirit is so strong and parents have been very forgiving."