Beechen Cliff School in Bath has been rated as ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, following an unannounced inspection in May in which safeguarding of pupils was labelled ‘ineffective’.
Beechen Cliff Headmaster, Andrew Davies
The inspection by Ofsted followed an incident at the school in January where it was alleged a group of white teenagers tied up a black pupil during a lunchtime break.
Ofsted also noted in their report that the school did not inform them of the racially motivated incident.
In a statement, the Board of Governors said that they accept ultimate responsibility for the contents of the report, and said the current Chair and deputy Chair have resigned, to allow ‘an objective and fresh perspective’ to be taken.
Ofsted visited the school, which has 1300 pupils, on 22nd and 23rd May 2018, where it found a number of issues leading it to deem the school as ‘inadequate’.
These included:
- Low-level disruption in lessons was interrupting pupils’ learning, especially in key stage 3.
- Leaders’ monitoring of teaching at the school is weak. Consequently, the quality of teaching is not consistently strong across the school.
- Leaders and governors not monitoring the levels of funding available, meaning pupils who are eligible for this funding are not making the progress of which they are capable.
- The response to the recent serious safeguarding incident was insufficient and too slow.
- School leaders did not tell inspectors about the racially motivated incident in January.
- Leaders’ and governors’ had a poor understanding of the principles and practice of safeguarding and child protection puts pupils at risk.
- Leaders did not refer serious child protection issues immediately to B&NES Council, exposing pupils to unnecessary risks.
- Leaders misused extended study leave in Year 11. The report noted this ‘is a form of unlawful exclusion’ used as a way of dealing with very poor behaviour.
- Leaders do not have effective systems to monitor the attendance and achievement of pupils taught in alternative provision.
- The 16 to 19 study programmes require improvement, as the progress pupils make on A-level courses is not yet good.
- Leaders and governors do not have secure procedures for safely recruiting staff, therefore, pupils’ safety is compromised.
However, the Ofsted inspectors did praise the school for the progress that pupils make in some subjects at key stage 4, especially in mathematics.
They also recognised that students in the sixth form received strong guidance to help them to make informed choices about their future education and employment.
Inspectors said they had ‘serious cause for concern’ over the language that leaders and governors used when they were describing the racial incident at the school in January.
“They still do not appreciate its true gravity and little appears to have been learned from the way that this issue was handled, as the ongoing poor practice with regard to referrals demonstrates.
“The school’s current plans to improve safeguarding are weak.”
The report also gives further detail of unlawful exclusion, where a number of pupils in Year 11 were on extended study leave to avoid exclusions. It noted that “These pupils are at risk, as they are not subject to the same monitoring and checks that go with formal exclusions.”
In a statement issued by Beechen Cliff Headmaster Andrew Davies on Tuesday, he said: “Along with the governors and staff, I am profoundly saddened by the outcomes of this report and I know it will be both disappointing and worrying for parents and those connected with the school.
“We accept that the report makes a number of fair recommendations and our plans to rectify these are already well advanced.”
“Please be reassured that we have total commitment from all staff and will be working with a strong external partner to reinstate an Ofsted grading that better reflects our school when we are re-inspected within two years.”
Nigel Stevens, the Acting Chair of Beechen Cliff’s Governing Body, said that they were disappointed and concerned with the inspection report, and that they “reiterate that whilst we have reservations with the conduct and outcome of the inspection, we accept that the report makes some important recommendations.”
The school was previously rated as ‘Outstanding’ following an inspection in March 2014.
