THREE years ago, Eastbourne School seemed a lost cause. With woeful academic performances, high levels of truancy and a slating from Ofsted, it could not have sunk much lower.

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

But despite the obvious troubles, a revival was stirring.

The school had a new headteacher - Karen Pemberton - by the time the country's first education federation was launched, in September 2003.

Eastbourne joined forces with Hurworth School, a maths and computing college, which was regularly posting record exam results and attracting national attention for its innovative schemes.

The project was heralded by the Government as a trailblazer that could shape the future of education.

Whereas, in the past, everything centred around fierce competition between schools, ministers were keen to extol the virtues of collaboration and the sharing of expertise.

Less than two years later, the end of the federation was confirmed, after Eastbourne gained record results of its own and was considered to be in a far better position to stand on its own two feet.

Today though, the school's future is once again in the air. Ms Pemberton has been suspended while Darlington Borough Council conducts an investigation into "concerns around the management of the school".

Those concerns arose during an audit carried out as part of the formation of an exit strategy designed to ensure Eastbourne would prosper once it split with Hurworth.

They are focused on five areas: behaviour, attitudes and ethos; bullying; attendance and punctuality; staffing; and leadership and management.

The audit report says pupils and staff were interviewed on their perceptions of behaviour within school.

Among the children's comments about lesson change-over time were, "I feel sad I might get hurt, knocked over and bashed in the face", and "Missiles are fired - coins and bottles".

Some staff said the school had come a long way since being in special measures and attendance had improved.

But others said it "felt like a battle most of the time", there were "a lot of problem pupils", they were shocked by incidents in school, pupils were more disrespectful than ever and some had "reverted to answering back, answering in threatening ways".

The school has an anti-bullying policy in place, with a zero tolerance approach said to be applied by staff.

A record of major incidents is kept on file - there were three in the last term - and this year's priority is to reduce forms of bullying such as prejudice and name-calling.

Thirty-six staff members completed a bullying questionnaire, with five per cent saying it was a problem, 31 per cent saying it was not and 58 per cent saying it was no worse than in any other secondary school.

But when a sample group of pupils was surveyed, it was found that more than 32 per cent had experienced bullying and more than 42 per cent had seen others being bullied.

Year eight pupils, the 13 and 14-year-olds, had the greatest experience of bullying, with only 38 per cent knowing what the school did to deal with perpetrators. However, the majority did know who to tell about bullying problems.

The issue of internal truanting, where pupils fail to turn up for lessons, was raised as a serious concern by both staff and governors in the report.

The school has 770 pupils and total attendance from last September to March this year was 90.9 per cent. Unauthorised absence was 2.9 per cent, not quite meeting the school's target of 2.5 per cent.

The report says: "Systems to support regular attendance and punctuality are described as in place. The staff interviewed reported an increase in the attendance rates."

But it adds: "Concerns were raised around the number of pupils who turn up for lessons. In some cases, a significant number can be missing. It was also felt that some pupils 'work the system'."

On the issue of leadership and management, all staff interviewed were said to have "demonstrated a tremendous commitment" to the school.

But the headteacher, senior and middle managers had conflicting views about behaviour and ethos.

Comments ranged from the school "developing assertive teaching" and pupils reacting well to long-serving staff, to behaviour being "appalling", staff not coping and being "consumed by behaviour".

The report says there has been "tremendous instability in staffing over the past three years".

It adds: "The leadership team feels that many of the difficulties faced by the school are directly related to the level of staff turnover and sickness absence.

"The analysis of the data suggests that the staffing turnover and absence is broadly in line with other schools. Staff are recognised as being committed to support the school, despite the many challenges.

"However, there is clearly some concern expressed about the school's ability to keep staff, given the current climate."

Governors, who described the school's condition as fragile, are anxious that it is not simply abandoned because the special measures category has been removed. They want highly visible support from the council.

So once again, Eastbourne School is facing an uncertain future. And the education authority may have tough decisions to make as it tries to get it back on track.