THE headteacher of an East Lancashire school where gang violence broke out today spoke of a new future after a sixth pupil was sentenced for his part in the fight.

A 16-year-old former pupil at Moorhead High School in Accrington was made the subject of a supervision order for nine months after pleading guilty to using threatening behaviour on January 14 this year.

The boy, who cannot be named, told the court: "I am really sorry about what happened. I realise it was a very serious offence."

Last month five other former pupils, three white and two Asian, aged 15 and 16, were given nine month referral orders after making guilty pleas to the same charge.

The sixth boy's case was adjourned for reports to be prepared on a previous conviction of his relating to an act of violence.

Headteacher Andrew Bateman said today: "We need to put this in the past now as the school has already moved forward.

"The atmosphere here is excellent -- the pupils are responding well to the new school building and education facilities and are enjoying their learning.

"What happened in January was a one-off incident fuelled by outside influences but we are relieved that the matter is now finally resolved and would like to say we will not accept threatening behaviour from one student to another as it is totally unacceptable.

"Since this incident there have not been any repetitions of this nature and we have done a lot of work inside school with tutorials and workshops to highlight and prevent problems."

The youth court at Hyndburn Magistrates heard that on January 14 a teacher at Moorhead saw two large groups of pupils gathering close to the new Cromwell building at the school and that two boys were throwing punches.

Teresa Feely, prosecuting, said the fight escalated with a lot of people becoming involved in a 'large disturbance between Asian and white boys'.

She said the defendant picked up a piece of wood and tried to hit another boy with it. Other boys, she said, used a belt and a knuckle duster as weapons.

Paul Wood, defending, told the court the boy had become involved in the fight only because he had been told his brother was involved and he was concerned for his safety.

After passing sentence magistrate Mary Barnes told the boy: "If you do not do as the court requests you will be brought back and it will be even more serious."

A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said: "This was a one-off incident.

"The school has been moving forward for a considerable amount of time and now that the final court hearing has been completed the school wants to draw a line under the whole incident and continue the business of educating children.

"It has continued to do this since the incident and has been working positively to ensure the strong links with the community."