A school which splashed £125,000 on iPads for its pupils in a bid to boost grades has seen results flop spectacularly in the three years since.

The Spires Academy gave all 450 youngsters at the Sturry school a tablet in 2012 – two months after 49% of its pupils achieved five GCSE grades between A* and C, including English and maths.

But new tables released for exams in the summer show this figure has dropped to 17% – well below the 34% Spires bosses predicted.

It follows a damning Ofsted report in May which rated the school as “requiring improvement” in all areas.

Now governors have been served with a pre-warning notice by the Department for Education, which flags up how the school is falling short of the expected 40% national standard.

Attendance is also significantly below average with persistent high absenteeism.

In a letter sent to parents on Tuesday, principal Nicki Mattin says the leadership team accepts standards are unacceptable and admits the school has a history of poor achievement.

She agrees exam results this year were disappointingly low and that attendance has been a “challenge” for some pupils.

But she says the fact Kent is a selective authority means a hierarchy of schools is created and traditionally Spires has been seen as “bottom of the pile”.

She insists things are changing and that over the last three years the school has challenged the quality and performance of its staff and that there have been improvements.

Defending the decision to purchase the iPads, Ms Mattin said the school invested in IT facilities to enable pupils to access the latest technology.

She said: “Tablets are a part of modern life used across education and industry and we feel it is important young people learn to use this technology effectively.

“It is an instantly accessible tool and used alongside other learning resources such as calculators, computers, laptops, text and books.

“We believe they are an integral part of the learning experience and there is no evidence to say their use has a detrimental impact on results.”

Chairman of the board of trustees, Gerry Pack, has responded to the warning notice and said the academy continues on a path of serious improvement, not yet reflected in pupils’ results.

The notice requires the school to respond within 15 working days, which it has done, outlining the actions it is planning to take.

If Spires is not deemed to be improving, a formal warning will be issued.