ANGRY villagers have accused Lancashire County Council of a 'colossal cover-up of staffing problems' at a tiny school earmarked for closure.

And church leaders have criticised education bosses for brushing alleged problems at the school under the carpet.

Tosside Primary School, which has only nine pupils, was earmarked for closure by Lancashire County Council's education sub-committee last week because of its lack of pupils.

Today, the Tosside Community Action Group blamed the school's falling roll on deteriorating relationships between staff and parents. Villagers claim there was a steady stream of complaints from parents over several years and a walkout by five governors following a vote of no confidence in the head teacher.

But they claim education bosses refused to act on the matter, despite demands from the chairman of governors.

A spokesman for the group said: "Instead of taking note of what the villagers said, there has been a colossal cover-up of staffing problems at the school. The education authority failed to act."

The tiny church school falls under the control of the Bradford diocese, which has called for an immediate explanation from the education authority. Diocesan education director Malcolm Halliday, who only recently took up his post, said: "We accept that parents had lost confidence in the way the school was being run and, if this is the case, we should have stepped in earlier. "But, more importantly, the education authority should have provided strong support to school governors and given them advice to remedy the situation.

"If people had lost confidence in the school, they weren't likely to send their children there. So why didn't the education authority investigate? There must be a reason why people don't use a local school and it doesn't seem to have been addressed."

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "Under national local management arrangements introduced 10 years ago, staffing matters are the responsibility of each school's governing body.

"The education authority offers guidance and assistance when asked, but decisions about any action to be taken rests with the school governors."

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