THE chairman of governors at a Blackburn secondary school today gave his backing to the findings of a report which said children were miserable at school.

Jack Fairless, of Witton Park High School, has campaigned for decades to improve the support for children moving from primary and secondary school.

And his beliefs that children need more help with the transition were consolidated with research by the New Economics Foundation out today.

Mr Fairless, who has been involved in the education system for 60 years, said: "Although the study is a bit flimsy it backs up what we have been saying for years - that the change for youngsters to secondary is just too difficult and we need to do all we can to make it easier."

The study, the Power and Potential of Wellbeing, spoke to 1,000 six to 19-year-olds. It found that primary children were much happier than their secondary counterparts, that there is an abrupt change in pupils' views of school at secondary and that almost a third of children studied were so fed up with secondary school they were vulnerable to mental illness.