A special unit for Bradford's excluded pupils has been placed in special measures after failing an Ofsted inspection.

The Aireview Pupil Referral Unit in Saltaire was too costly to run as the average cost per pupil in 2001 was £24,723, the report found. In mainstream schools, costs per pupil are £2,000 to £3,000.

At one point, inspectors found there were more teachers than youngsters at the unit in Baker Street.

And they were critical of the way the centre had been allowed by the education authority to "drift" under poor-quality temporary management while a review took place of the special-needs sector.

A bar was put on recruitment while the future of the service was decided and the unit scraped by with supply teachers.

The Ofsted report says Aireview was a successful unit when last inspected in 1998. "Since then, things have deteriorated," it said. "The unit has been allowed to drift."

The centre is used for 11-to-16-year-old youngsters - mostly boys - who have been thrown out of their mainstream school, usually for assaulting a teacher or pupil or for persistent disruptive behaviour.

Inspectors found that Aire-view was a calm, orderly place where pupils behaved well in one-to-one lessons.

But Ofsted was critical of the way youngsters were rigidly controlled and never given the opportunity to mix with each other at break or lunchtimes or to take part in group work in class.

"Pupils are not learning to relate to their peers or co-operate with others," the report explains. "They are not learning to understand the consequences of their action on others or being given the opportunity to make the right choices about how to behave."

Eddie Gardner, an experienced consultant head with Education Bradford, has now taken charge at Aireview as executive head teacher.

Two new permanent teachers and two behaviour support workers have been appointed this term.

Mr Gardner said the unit had relaxed some controls on pupils to allow them to work together and had brought in a lunch break where they could mix.

"They need to be able to go back to a mainstream school and cope with that," he said.

An action plan is being drawn up. The unit brings the number of Bradford schools in Special Measures to ten.

l You can find the latest official Ofsted reports on your children's schools on the Telegraph & Argus website: www.thisisbradford.co.uk.