Northamptonshire school rated inadequate due to safeguarding issues

Ofsted will return to the school to re-inspect it after they visited in January

A Northamptonshire school has been graded inadequate after Ofsted inspectors found safeguarding problems.

St Andrew's Church of England Primary School in Kettering said the assessment was not a "fair judgement".

The pupils' development was rated outstanding and the school's quality of education, behaviour and attitudes and early years provision were rated good.

But its management was rated inadequate after inspectors found problems ensuring effective safeguarding.

Ofsted will return to the school to re-inspect it after they visited in January.

According to a report by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the Ofsted statement said the school leaders "did not fully understand, or follow, their legal duties in relation to exclusions and suspensions" and that the school had used suspension "unlawfully".

Ofsted stated the school had been "too often careless in their approach to safeguarding pupils" who might have been at risk of harm.

Concerns

The school's headteacher, Ben Arnell, said Ofsted's parent survey showed 100% of parents reported their child was happy and 98% felt their child was safe at the school.

He added: "Whilst we are always very open and listen to all feedback, we had some concerns about how the inspectors came to some of the conclusions that they did.

"We have already spent much time and energy challenging Ofsted's findings through their complaints process and we are grateful that they will be returning to the school shortly so we can show how we have addressed the concerns that they raised."

The school was found to have catered "exceptionally well" for children's personal development and found to "share the same level of high ambition for pupils" with special needs.

Pupils had been taking part in activities such as community litter picking and visiting local care homes.

The report also stated that the primary school ensured learning to read was a "priority", that pupils developed a love of reading and that other programmes were "well planned and sequenced".

Mr Arnell added: "All of us at St Andrews's are fully committed to continually improving the quality of provision for our children at every level.

"We will drive this forward relentlessly to ensure that the great school, that we were yesterday and are today, will continue to become ever better tomorrow and beyond."

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