Hillcrest School had already suffered the shame of being labelled the worst school in Sussex after disastrous GCSE results which saw just 15 per cent of pupils get five A* to C grades.

Having been branded a failing school and moved into special measures, staff at Hillcrest will now be subject to regular short-notice inspections by the schools' regulator Ofsted.

As well as these stringent checks on what staff are doing to improve things, entering special measures also means management at the school, like new head Theresa Phillips, could be sacked.

In another possible shake-up the board of governors could be replaced by an executive committee charged with turning round troubled school's fortunes.

Whatever happens it is likely to add further uncertainty to staff, parents and pupils and is just the latest set-back in the long-running saga surrounding the Rye Road school.

Earlier this year super-head Sir Dexter Hutt and his company Ninestiles Plus won a contract from East Sussex County Council to take over the running of Hillcrest, as well as Filsham Valley and The Grove.

This lead to a shake-up in the school's curriculum which was heavily criticised by some parents for putting too much emphasis on less academic subjects like information technology.

The accusations were that the school was enrolling students on easier courses in order to achieve the rapid up-turn in exam results expected of Sir Dexter's management.

These complains led to a protest by parents outside the school gates and angry mums and dads accusing the school of letting down their children. Some pupils were even told courses they had already started would be stopped, despite them having already completed work towards them.

Then former headteacher Lyndsay Hart shocked staff and parents by suddenly resigning after three-and-a-half years at the helm.

At the time Mrs Hart said she was looking for a more "autonomous " headteacher role.

Now, with Ofsted inspectors deciding the school was failing to provide its pupils with an acceptable standard of education, the school needs to show drastic improvement.

The damning report said: "Teaching and learning are not having a sufficiently strong impact on eliminating underachievement.

"The school should be helping its students to make faster progress and results should be higher."

Despite the stigma surrounding special measures, Sir Dexter Hutt remained confident the school was moving in the right direction.

He said the Ofsted report recognised the proven track-record of Ninestiles Plus and agreed new head Theresa Phillips was spearheading work to improve things.

One area the school did receive praise for was the work helping children with special needs.

Inspectors also described the curriculum as satisfactory.

Nevertheless, being moved into special measures will come as a blow.

Sir Dexter Hutt, said: "The inspectors' judgement was not unexpected.

"It is very clear what we have to do. Our aim is to continue to focus on the stringent school improvement agenda which the inspectors recognised.

"Hillcrest school is going to go from strength to strength.

"Staff and students will work together to make that happen. We firmly expect our improvement to be reflected in next summer's results."

Are things are Hillcrest as bad as they seem? Do you have faith Sir Dexter Hutt can turn things round? Who do you blame for the poor results? Leave your comments below.