The announcement that the North-East would pioneer the country's first "education federation", between two schools with radically different fortunes, was made a year ago. Stuart Mackintosh examines how the experiment has fared.

TWO years ago, they were poles apart in every aspect of education for which a performance league table is produced. Eastbourne School, in Darlington, had become a laughing stock, with dismal academic performances, serious truancy problems and a regular hammering from the dreaded inspectors.

In 2002, barely 20 per cent of its pupils achieved five GCSEs at grades A to C, leaving it ranked 182nd out of 200 of the worst schools in the country.

A damning report from the Office for Standards in Education confirmed the sorry state of affairs and the school was placed into the "special measures" category. "It's so depressing to go into a school and find the children don't even believe they can achieve anything," says Eamonn Farrar, the man who was handed a key role in the unenviable bid to turn things round.

By contrast, the village comprehensive school of Hurworth, on the edge of Darlington, had never had it so good.

In the same year, 64 per cent of pupils picked up five GCSEs from A to C, while national awards and lavish praise from government inspectors poured in.

It was against this background that the two opposites linked up in the country's first ever federation of schools - and raised more than a few eyebrows.

"All very well for Eastbourne, but Hurworth will suffer badly," the sceptics claimed, as the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) confirmed last July that it had allocated £2m for the pioneering three-year scheme.

The step into the unknown was formally taken last September. Eastbourne had a new headteacher in Karen Pemberton, while Hurworth's former deputy head Dean Judson had taken charge. Ex-Hurworth head Mr Farrar, credited with the school's meteoric rise up the performance tables, took the role of federation chief executive.

Today, both schools confidently predict record GCSE results this year. Better still, Eastbourne hopes to be out of special measures by November.

Last year, things were already on the up under the new leadership teams. Eastbourne's GCSE A-C pass rate hit a record 31 per cent, while Hurworth's was a best-ever 70 per cent.

But the success of the federation now looks set to drive those figures even higher. Mr Farrar says: "They were both schools' record results. We can say with a virtual cast-iron guarantee we'll be saying the same again in September. It could even be 40 per cent-plus at Eastbourne and 80 per cent-plus at Hurworth."

The most recent inspection found 83 per cent of teaching at Eastbourne to be satisfactory, the national average being around 90.

It's a ringing endorsement of the benefits of sharing expertise with a top-performing neighbour.

Mr Judson says: "There was a lot of doubt at the start of the federation, and with good reason, but we are now looking at record results on both sites, which was the main objective when we went into this."

Pupil attendance at Eastbourne was 90.3 per cent - a dramatic reversal of fortunes for a school described less than two years earlier as "a dysfunctional community".

So what's changed?

Learning from different leadership teams and methods has been critical to raising standards. "They had some inexperienced people in their geography department for example," says Mr Farrar. "We had someone with a wealth of experience here and we got them together."

The swapping of ideas and experiences between both schools has been invaluable - but it has not been simply a one-way thing.

Eastbourne headteacher Karen Pemberton says: "It's about sharing ideas and taking advice. Some of what we have done has been picked up by both schools.

"It's been more about social links than academic links at the moment. For example, we're setting up joint visits for pupils. If we're going on a trip, we'll look to involve Hurworth.

"We want to do that sort of thing before we get into mixing children in classes, which would be a very big step."

Each school's board of governors now has three members sitting on a federation board. "I've been struck by how well that has gone," says Mr Farrar, "especially as there was so much potential for major conflict - how do we divide the money up, etc?" Pupils are also getting into the spirit of collaboration. A federation pupil council meets regularly and reports back on further sharing arrangements it would like to see.

Of course, the money - £2m, plus a further £200,000 a year - has helped. Three-quarters of a million pounds have dramatically improved the decaying Eastbourne building.

"The fabric of that building was in the worst state of any school I had been into by a country mile," says Mr Farrar. "We have been able to address those issues. Just painting, carpeting and refurbishing the building gave it a fresher look.

"We have built a restaurant section that will open in September and have a food area so that children can study courses in there and pursue alternative qualifications."

Photography was also one of Eastbourne's most popular courses, but pupils struggled with the practical side because of the lack of a darkroom. They had to travel to further education colleges in the area to complete projects - a chore which did little for motivation.

"The teacher was really struggling with the poor state of things," says Mr Farrar. "We have totally re-done it and given him all the equipment he had needed in the past. Now we have children accessing the latest equipment and the impact on motivation and self-esteem is obvious."

A new £300,000 music and drama centre is coming to Hurworth, as is an ICT suite with 70 computers. Both facilities could eventually be available to small groups of Eastbourne pupils.

The Hurworth-Eastbourne link-up is one of nine across the country promoting collaboration, and not competition, as an effective method of raising standards. So far it is leading the way nationally, with the DfES saying it has proved terrific value for money. It has set the benchmark for future federations, which the DfES is eager to promote.

While some schools forming federations have been unable to overcome certain differences, the North-East pioneer is pointed to as a role model.

But ironically, for all its triumphs, individually and as part of the federation, Hurworth is contemplating an uncertain future.

The local authority has admitted that at least one, and possibly two, secondary schools may have to close once a massive review of education in the Darlington borough is completed. Hurworth is a prime candidate, particularly with the value of the land on which the school stands being high.

Staff and governors, however, will not let it fold without a fight and are continuing to press their case with the borough council. For now though, they are determined to forge ahead with the federation project and insist there will be no resting on their laurels.

"We're not saying everything's sorted at Eastbourne or that Hurworth can get no better - we're still not satisfied," says Mr Farrar.

"If Eastbourne is out of special measures by November, that would be an extraordinary achievement. If that happens, we will go from there."

Mrs Pemberton says: "There are three members of staff from Eastbourne who have taken up posts at Hurworth for next year, so it should present no problems for them to come back and do some teaching here. It wouldn't be a step into the unknown for them."

She is also aware that expectations have been raised.

"We'll be starting from a new baseline every time we bring a new year group in. They'll expect to work hard, have the right facilities and do well in t heir exams. That's what we have to do for them."