COUNCIL staff had been working to improve standards at Hawes Community Primary School for three years before the school was placed in special measures, parents discovered this week.

More than 100 parents, staff and community leaders attended a meeting to discuss the future of the school after it emerged that IT had been rated as inadequate by Ofsted.

At the meeting, North Yorkshire County Council officers, governors and the school headteacher apologised to parents for their "collective" failings and vowed to raise standards as quickly as possible.

Parents were told the school's governing body would be disbanded and an interim executive board (IEB) would be formed to oversee improvements.

The IEB would be chaired by education consultant and experienced governor, Jan Linsley, with the panel also including Upper Dales county councillor John Blackie and Samantha Parfitt, the chair of governors at Bainbridge Primary School.

The meeting heard that the school would now benefit from additional funding and support from county hall, with the aim of being a good school by the time Ofsted re-inspects in up to two years' time.

The Ofsted report was highly critical of the school leadership and several parents spoke out at the meeting saying the head, Lorraine Dooley, should be replaced, with one mother saying she had "failed" the pupils and parents.

Mr Lancashire said work would be done to improve the effectiveness of the leadership and management, as well as improve the quality of teaching.

He and director of children and young people Pete Dwyer said the school leaders' roles would be looked at by the IEB.

Mrs Dooley told the audience she accepted that some parents had lost confidence in her.

She said: "I didn't come into the profession to get a report like this and I'm sorry I've been unable to get this school to where it wants to be."

She added that she would like to play a part in the school's future but acknowledged this was a decision for the new IEB.

Parents were told that North Yorkshire County Council staff had been working with the school since the previous headmaster fell ill and his deputy, Mrs Dooley, took over.

At the meeting parents questioned whether council officers were capable of helping the school to improve going forward given that there had been insufficient improvements over the three years.

And they questioned why the volunteer governors had been dismissed rather than paid council workers who had been helping the school over that time.

"They are on big salaries and they're clearly not helping," said one.