THE British Education Secretary, Ms Gillian Shephard, yesterday gave Calderdale education authority and the governors of the Ridings School "one last chance" to bring it back from failure.
But she warned they had "better get it right" and gave them 30 days notice of the appointment of an education "hit squad" to take control of the school in Halifax, west Yorkshire.
She issued her stark warning as inspectors formally declared the school - where pupil indiscipline drove teachers to the edge of strike action - to be "failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education".
Their verdict came as older pupils returned to the school for the first time since last Thursday, when it was closed in the interests of safety.
Inspectors told Calderdale education authority that the school was in danger of running out of control.
Closure coincided with the declaration of unanimous support by members of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers for industrial action, unless a significant number of children were expelled or disciplined. Strike action was averted on Tuesday when Mr Peter Clark, seconded as acting head, expelled 12 children and suspended 23 others.
Yesterday, a triumphant Mr Nigel de Gruchy, NASUWT general secretary, praised the courage of his members for acting over collapsing discipline where the school's management and Calderdale had done nothing.
Yesterday's Ofsted report spread blame widely for the school's disastrously poor academic record and descent into near anarchy. It said a "small but significant minority" of children continually disrupted many aspects of the school's life. But it said poor teaching contributed to the disciplinary crisis. Some teachers appeared to be deliberately confrontational, while others left children bored, the report said.