EAST Lancashire schools should brace themselves to be next on the Ofsted hit list, head teachers warned today.

Darwen Moorland High School has been put under special measures after being told it was failing, by the education watchdog. The management team has been given two years to turn the school around.

But headteacher Richard Bridges has received the backing of two leading unions in warning that more schools will face criticism since the implementation of new guidelines by the inspectors.

And the Office for Standards in Education has been slammed for "changing the rules of the game."

The National Association of Head Teachers has written to the Chief Inspector of Schools, David Bell, to demand that inspectors be more compassionate to schools.

A new school inspection framework came into force in September with much stricter criteria for inspectors to follow -- and schools to meet -- in areas such as leadership and management and the quality of teaching.

Richard Bridges, head teacher since May 2000, said he accepted that teaching was to blame for the emergency action which could ultimately lead to the school's closure.

He said: "The Ofsted inspectors stated what has factually happened here -- that it is no surprise standards have declined because we have had so many problems with staffing.

"But we are not alone. More schools are being caught by this under the new Ofsted inspections and the number of schools being given special measures has massively increased."

Simon Jones, national executive member for the National Union of Teachers, said: "Really successful schools are going to fall foul of the inspection now the changes are in place.

"Before, if a teacher was inspected in ten lessons and was said to be satisfactory in all, that would have meant an overall report of satisfactory. Not any more. Now it is not seen as satisfactory unless one or more of a teacher's lessons are excellent.

"It is not fair, and based on snap judgements that put immense stress on all the teachers. It destroys people and schools." David Fann, council member for Lancashire's NAHT, added: "Head teachers had just got used to one set of guidelines when the rules of the game changed. More schools in East Lancashire will fall prey to this.

"The LEA know of schools which are struggling but we are finding more going under special measures that should not be.

"We have made representation to David Bell to call on inspectors to be more compassionate in their opinions of schools as they are adhering to the guidelines too strictly. They need to be more understanding."

But Chief Inspector of Schools, David Bell, insists the new framework does not "accentuate the negative."

He said: "The purpose of Ofsted's new school inspection framework is to give a clear, impartial and well-balanced evaluation of the quality of what schools provide and priorities for improvement.

"The new framework and handbooks set out descriptors that are more precise and give clearer guidance on where to pitch judgements than those used previously. This applies particularly to judgements on leadership and management and the quality of teaching. It is right that expectations of schools should be rising."