EDUCATION bosses at Blackburn with Darwen Council are hoping to take power at a troubled primary school after four members of the governing body resigned.

The local education authority has applied to the government for permission to take full control of Audley Junior School in Audley, Blackburn, until delegated powers can be returned to the board.

The move comes following the resignation of the chairman, vice-chairman and two other governors after a damning Ofsted report recommended the school be placed on special measures.

Government inspectors behind the report criticised many aspects of the school including the quality of teaching, provision for children with special needs, poor attainment in English and maths and provision for information technology.

The Queen's Park Road school has already secured an associate head to help drive through immediate improvements and hope to have recruited a new permanent head by January 2000.

The council has terminated the contract of head teacher David Braithwaite following more than two years off sick.

Blackburn with Darwen Council's principal schools improvement officer Ian Kendrick said revoking delegated powers from the governing body would allow the local education authority to act swiftly to implement a recovery plan. He said: "When a school goes into special measures there are legal powers to allow the LEA to take over from the governing body until it is back to full strength.

"The move will allow us to act quickly but is not a vote of no confidence in the governors and there is no inference of financial mismanagement or mispractice.

"The Ofsted report raised issues the school is addressing quickly and it has made a lot of progress already. These powers will enable us to help it."

Associate headteacher Adrian Woods, who is on loan from Sudell Primary School, Darwen, until Christmas, said the team at Audley Junior School was working very hard to make things right.

He said a partnership between the governors, LEA and Education Action Zone had already led to the introduction of whiteboard technology and suite of computers as well as more than £12,000 worth of new books and a further £4,000 worth of maths equipment.

Classrooms are being spruced up with paint and carpeted areas while teachers have been busy creating bright and colourful displays on the walls.

The school has also introduced a new disciplinary strategy and cut the lunch hour by 15 minutes to add extra teaching time to the afternoon, while the recent Standard Assessment Test results for children at Key Stage two exceeded the national average in English and were on a par in maths.

Mr Woods went on: "If you look on the car park of the school at 8am it is full of teachers' cars that are still there at 6pm long after all the children have gone home.

"They are working very hard to get things right."

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