EVEN before The Northern Echo revealed controversial council plans to merge highly successful Hurworth School with troubled Eastbourne Comprehensive into one newly-built school, there were whispers of unrest in education circles.

It has been a tumultuous 12 months in Darlington education service - with announcements of school closures, damning Ofsted reports and the suspension of Eastbourne's headteacher, Karen Pemberton, over alleged mismanagement.

But the strongest reaction has come with the announcement to close Hurworth School and Eastbourne Comprehensive and build a new £20m school on the outskirts of Darlington. Simmering disquiet is in danger of boiling over.

Darlington Borough Council admits there is a problem with education in the town and it is the attempts by director of children's services Margaret Asquith to tackle those failings that have led to conflict with some headteachers and unions.

A report which goes to the Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Committee today, reads: "There is clearly much work to be done in raising education standards in Darlington."

The report reveals attendance rates in Darlington schools are the tenth worst nationally.

It also highlights a worrying gender gap in attainment, with girls outperforming boys at all levels.

Last summer, 60.3 per cent of pupils at Hummersknott School and Language College, achieved the benchmark of five GCSE grades A* to C. The report says: "The DfES has a view, which is shared by the headteacher, that they would wish to see that attainment in the region of 80 per cent plus in the future and the school is working towards that target."

Only 57.5 per cent of pupils at Carmel RC Technology College, achieved the five GCSEs grade A* to C last year, compared with 73.7 per cent the previous year. The report says: "The headteacher has analysed the reasons for the drop in performance and is confident that this was a one-off situation and results will be much better again this year."

Branksome Comprehensive is in special measures and Eastbourne Comprehensive has just come out of special measures.

Haughton Community School will be merged with two others in the UK's first education village in November this year. Only 36.2 per cent of pupils achieved the benchmark five GCSE grades A* to C last year.

The report says: "There is much work to be done to raise standards in many areas at Haughton School. The new headteacher is aware of these areas for improvement and is keen to work with the local authority in doing this."

Just over 40 per cent of pupils at Longfield School achieved the benchmark last year. The report says: "The headteacher has a long-term plan for raising attainment and is confident of improved results this year."

The report singles out Hurworth School, which is in the top 40 secondary schools nationally, as "in a class of its own" and says the school is held up as an exemplar of good practice for school improvement by the DfES.

It is for this reason that the people in the village of

Hurworth are furious that the school has been earmarked for closure.

Tony Richmond, Darlington Conservative group leader, said yesterday: "Closing down the best performing school in the town is the educational logic of a madhouse.

"There is time to turn the performance of Eastbourne around and only when they have done this, should there be a decision.

"Something has gone wrong with education in this town. It is up to policy makers to identify what that is and bring the standards back up at secondary schools."

On Friday, headteachers across the town gathered to hear about the new proposals and were invited to be part of the consultation process.

In what was a heated meeting, some headteachers expressed their fears over recent developments in the town, and questioned why they had not been consulted before.

The council is now faced with the task of winning round these angry headteachers.

Chris McEwan, council cabinet member for children's services, said yesterday: "There is some under-performance but there is also good practice in all our schools.

"This is all about the children. We have to engage with the headteachers in Darlington. We are going to work collectively to share best practices and work to challenge each other in a positive way.

"We also have to recognise there are weaknesses and deal with these on a collective basis."

He said performance in primary schools in Darlington was good, and education bosses needed to work out why this was not consistently followed through at secondary level.

The Hurworth/Eastbourne plan is still only a proposal and yesterday Robin Mair, chairman of governors at Hurworth School, stressed that the governors had not made a decision on the proposals.

He said the sole concern of the governing body was to look at what was in the best interests of pupils and added that the governors would be meeting on Friday.

He said: "It is unlikely any final decision will be taken at that meeting.

"In the interim, governors will be listening to as many parents as possible. I have also requested opinions on the authority's proposal from a number of interested parties including Hurworth and Middleton St George parish councils."

Hurworth parents are invited to a special parents' meeting to be held in the school on Tuesday, next week, at 6pm.