Epsom and Ewell High School has been badly let down by Surrey County Council, its former governors said.

The board of school governors were forced to step down and a new regime was put in place after a disastrous Ofsted report which said the school was failing to provide an acceptable standard of education.

However the governors said with the right support from the council the school might never have been put in special measures, and its fortunes could have been turned round.

According to the report, published on Wednesday, the number of children meeting national expectations was exceptionally low.

The poor behaviour of a minority of students was also revealed to be affecting the education of the majority and there was a lack of permanent staff in some subjects.

The report also showed that many students were feeling very disaffected with the school.

But although the inspectors found that the previous headteacher, Alison Dawes, had dealt with the school’s financial problems, restructured the leadership team and dealt with the major staffing issues, the county council asked her to leave and take up another post and appointed a new executive head – Ani Magill.

Former chairman of the governors Julian Freeman led the mass resignation of the governors, which are to be replaced by an interim executive board of three people after being told that there was no other effective option available which would save the school.

He is appalled that what was supposed to a special package of support from Surrey County Council to prevent the school from being put into special measures was useless.

In a letter to the Epsom Guardian he wrote: “The support from Surrey was meaningless and insignificant to the extent that it was completely ineffectual.

“It is the view of almost all governors that the Local Education Authority has failed to give the school the support it needed and asked for.

It is [the LEA] who ultimately should be called to account.”

Mr Freeman was an Epsom and Ewell High School governor for five years before taking over as chairman for two weeks before the forced resignation of the governing body .

He said: “The governors were told that the only way to bring about the improvements necessary was for them to stand down to make way for the board.

“At the end of the day the only thing that matters is the pupils that attend the school and their chance of a decent education.

“Nothing else matters, and I think that was the view that all the governors took.”

A spokesman for Surrey County Council said: “We had support in place for the school to address issues that we knew about.

“Unfortunately there was insufficient progress made before the Ofsted inspectors visited.

“The county council will continue to support the school, and the new leadership team.”