School fails to quash 'inadequate' Ofsted report

All Saints Academy's chair of governors, David Fraser, and head teacher Liz Furber attended the Royal Courts of Justice in London

A school rated "inadequate" has lost a High Court fight with watchdog Ofsted.

Lawyers representing All Saints Academy in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, argued that inspectors did not give "sufficient reasons" for reaching their conclusion.

They asked a High Court judge to quash the inspection report as a result.

But Mr Justice Cavanagh ruled against the school, outlining his conclusions in a written ruling published online. He had overseen a two-day trial in April.

The judge was told how, in November 2022, a two-day Ofsted inspection took place at the "sponsor-led" secondary comprehensive school, which has about 650 pupils.

He heard how at the end of that inspection the school was told that safeguarding was "effective", four of six key judgments were "good" and two required improvement.

Two months later, All Saints learned that the inspection had been "deemed incomplete".

A new inspection team collected "additional evidence" and head teacher Liz Furber was then told that safeguarding had been judged "ineffective", and the "overall effectiveness judgment" was "now inadequate".

Ofsted said its report was fair and the school's claim should be dismissed

The school, which was represented by law firm Irwin Mitchell, said the final Ofsted report did not give "sufficient reasons, explanation or evidence" to enable it to understand the findings.

A lawyer leading the school's legal team asked the judge to quash the report.

Barrister Paul Greatorex accused Ofsted of trying to "reduce everything into little boxes".

Mr Greatorex argued that Ofsted had "lost their way".

Ofsted disputed the school's allegations and said the claim should be dismissed.

Lawyers representing Ofsted defended the rating - and argued that the All Saints report was comprehensive and not deficient.

They said the school had "consistently underperformed" in inspections.

The case was considered by a High Court judge in London

Mr Justice Cavanagh said Ofsted was not under a "procedural obligation" to provide detail wanted by the school.

"It is entirely understandable that the school should be disappointed and upset that the second inspection team reached different and somewhat more unfavourable judgments," he said.

"However, this does not mean that (Ofsted was) under any obligation, as a matter of procedural fairness, to provide the school with a detailed comparison between the provisional judgments of the first inspection team and the draft conclusions of the second team."

He added: "The core of the dissatisfaction on the part of the school with the final report was not unhappiness with the adequacy of reasons, but disappointment and disagreement with the judgment."

The judge said material relating to the death of school head Ruth Perry was not relevant

Mr Justice Cavanagh said a witness statement made by Ms Furber had included material relating to the "tragic death" of head teacher Ruth Perry.

Mrs Perry took her own life in January 2023 after an Ofsted inspection downgraded her school in Reading from "outstanding" to "inadequate".

The judge said the material was not relevant to the Dunstable case.

He said he was not concerned with a "challenge to systematic unfairness in Ofsted inspections", and added: "This court is not a proper forum for policy disagreements about the way in which Ofsted functions."