A SCHOOL shelled out up to £30,000 on a trip to Marbella for staff training – and got a £2,881 refund after cancelling it in the wake of negative publicity.

Edensor Technology College, in Longton, sparked a furore earlier this month when The Sentinel revealed almost 80 teaching staff were due to jet off to the Spanish resort for a school conference.

The school had booked the four-star Andalucia Plaza Marbella Hotel, which comes complete with a poolside bar, Turkish baths and a casino.

Parents branded the trip a waste of money and even Schools Secretary Ed Balls condemned the move.

At the time, headteacher Richard Mercer would not reveal how much the four-day excursion would have cost, but claimed it was more cost-effective than booking a venue nearer home.

Now Edensor has finally bowed to pressure and released some of the figures, which show a quote for £404 per person was obtained for accommodation, meals, travel and conference facilities in Marbella. This worked out at £30,300 for 75 delegates.

The school then negotiated a lower price with the agent, which has not been disclosed for "commercial reasons".

Edensor got a further nine quotes for hotels as far afield as Madrid and Prague, as well as in Stoke-on-Trent and Crewe.

But one Potteries venue was ruled out because a dozen staff had come down with food poisoning at a previous training event there, triggering an environmental health investigation. And another Stoke-on-Trent hotel was described by the school as having "poor service and attitude".

Two Crewe hotels were also considered, but governors decided they would have worked out more expensive than flying abroad.

Edensor Technology College staff ended up having their conference in school after the trip was cancelled on the day they were due to leave.

Mr Mercer said he made the decision because he feared the intense media coverage would have led to "severe disruption" of the training event in Spain.

The school used two out of its annual allocation of five training days to cover the conference. The other two days of the trip abroad would have been in teachers' own time. Pupils were given work to do from home to make up for missing lessons.

Mr Mercer said: "The quote for Marbella was seen as being the most cost-effective, taking into account the number of delegates, the need for twin-bedded shared rooms and the specialist conference facilities we required."

The final figure included all travel costs, accommodation, meals, soft drinks, the training area, and internet connection.

Mr Mercer added: "The insurance policy the school use is one from the local education authority.

"We were unable to claim for cancellation via the insurance policy. We have to date received funds amounting to £2,881.

"It would appear that no further refunds will be forthcoming.

"We did not incur any cancellation charges in connection with the visit."