THE Bishop of Durham is supporting calls for a controversial Christian school to be re-inspected.

The Right Reverend Michael Turnbull was speaking after teachers at Emmanuel College, Gateshead, were accused of indoctrinating pupils with creationist theories.

Eminent scientist Professor Richard Dawkins has written to Ofsted asking that the school be re-inspected after claiming teachers were teaching "ludicrous falsehoods".

Yesterday, Bishop Turnbull said: "In the interests of transparency, that (re-inspection) would probably be a good thing, as long as it was without bias on either side. I have a high regard for the school and I believe that so-called creationist theories and Darwinism theories are not incompatible.

"If children are learning some things about the creation of the world from a religious and moral point of view in one set of lessons, and about the scientific point of view in another, then that is all well and good."

The school has received two glowing Ofsted inspections, which have been questioned by Prof Dawkins.

"I can only think that the inspectors overlooked or were not shown what was going on in science teaching," he said.

But parents have rushed to defend the school.

Lilian Harris, 45, of Gateshead, whose daughter Vicky, 17, and son Andrew, 15, attend the school said: "Evolution is an important issue, but we do not devolve it from creation.

"What the school is doing is making sure they know about both so that the pupils can make an informed decision for themselves."