THE only way to turn around a failing Worcester school is for it to be joined with or taken over by a successful school, says a former governor.

County councillor John Buckley said radical changes promised to help get Elgar Technology College out of special measures were not happening.

Coun Buckley stepped down as a governor at the Bilford Road school shortly after it was put on special measures by Ofsted because he felt he could better fight for changes to improve it if he was not on the governing body.

But he said he was concerned that radical changes promised by the county council to help the school were not happening, and the appointment of interim headteacher David Williams would not solve the problem.

"There were going to be all these radical changes and now everything they seem to be doing is not radical at all. I really do not know where the council is taking the school," he said.

He said an interim headteacher would not help the stability of Elgar and more groundbreaking action was needed to help the situation.

"If you really want to change the school and for parents to want their children to go there, we have got to see either a federation with another school or a takeover by another school," he said.

"Something that is really different so people say: that's not Elgar anymore, that's now a school being run by a more successful body, a proven body'."

Coun Buckley had previously argued the only way to change the situation was to look at catchment areas in the city, and the number of excluded pupils Elgar is required to take from other schools.

He said: "It's obvious the local education authority does not see it being a top of the league table school. It is not doing anything to change the perception at the school. We can't get parents of children who are doing well to send them there."

But Worcestershire County Council's cabinet member for children and young people Coun Liz Eyre said an interim head was not the end of their efforts to improve the school.

"The new interim headteacher is part of a range of measures that are being put in place," she said.

"The appointment is just the first step."