'Urgent improvements' needed at safety concern school

Staff at Northfield Academy had previously raised safety concerns.

Further urgent improvements are needed at an Aberdeen school where teachers voted to strike over violence against staff, according to a new report.

Education Scotland inspectors who visited Northfield Academy found more needs to be done to make pupils feel safe.

Staff voted to strike at the school last year after the EIS union said there were serious safety concerns.

A follow-up visit in September - after an initial inspection in January - found small improvements have been made.

However the report also found some areas still require "urgent attention".

'Insufficient progress'

It said a significant minority of young people said they "do not feel safe" or do not know if they feel safe in school.

It added that young people and parents continued to have concerns about bullying.

The report goes on to say too many young people continue to leave class without permission which is affecting their learning and needs to be addressed urgently.

Inspectors concluded by saying the school has made insufficient progress since the original inspection.

An Aberdeen City Council spokesperson said: “Since the return inspection in September, considerable further action has been taken to address the areas for improvement.”