A DEVELOPMENT agency has been accused of snubbing youngsters who are learning to speak Mandarin Chinese.

Hummersknott School and Language College, in Darlington, is running the pioneering GCSE course as business prospects open up in the Chinese market.

But deputy headteacher Ann Hughes said the school's approaches for financial and moral support from One NorthEast have been met with silence for more than a year.

Mrs Hughes was also irritated after the agency mentioned the school was teaching Mandarin when it opened an office in Shanghai recently, yet had not shown support.

The school is one of seven in Darlington highlighted in The Northern Echo last week as facing huge funding problems. Darlington's secondary schools do not qualify for the majority of additional funding because the area is not deemed to be socially deprived.

The five-year programme, which currently involves 29 children, costs £15,000 a year to fund and includes the services of Mandarin Chinese teacher Hua Yan.

Mrs Hughes said: "We are suffering a funding crisis. The money is a major issue, but it would have been better if the agency had just said we don't have any money but we think it's valuable and will give you all the moral support we can.

"We've been trying to encourage the agency to take an interest and have got nowhere."

The programme was launched at Durham University last November, but no one from the agency took up the invitation to attend.

It was One NorthEast that recommended the school offer Mandarin as a choice, following a language skills capacity audit.

Mrs Hughes said: "Because we are a language college, we were looking to introduce a non-European language."

A spokesman for One NorthEast said the agency's external relations manager for learning and skills had met Mrs Hughes at a seminar on February 22, where it was explained that a member of staff dedicated to language development would be appointed soon.

An appointment had now been made and a meeting arranged for next month to discuss possible funding opportunities.