Gloucestershire school deemed 'inadequate' by Ofsted
Inspectors say the school doesn't respond appropriately to pupils and parents concerns about bullying
A Gloucestershire school where pupils are bullied has been deemed 'inadequate' by Ofsted.
Pupils at the Peak Academy Drake, which is a specialist school near Dursley, say they aren't confident that staff will tackle the bullying which includes frequent name-calling.
And Ofsted inspectors say leaders don't respond appropriately when pupils, parents or carers have concerns about incidents that happen at school.
The school's overall effectiveness and leadership and management have been deemed inadequate while the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes and personal development requires improvement.
School leaders delay reporting allegations to professional agencies and don't monitor safeguarding practices well enough.
Ofsted's inspection report
The inspection report reads:
"This puts pupils at risk of harm. Staff often physically remove pupils from lessons, so that they can calm down.
"However, staff don't listen well enough to pupils’ views about the impact that these physical interventions have.
"This creates anxieties for pupils as they try to make sense of events."
The arrangements for safeguarding at the school are also ineffective, according to the inspection report.
There is a poor culture of safeguarding at the school where leaders don't take pupils' concerns about incidents that occur at school seriously.
Records don't show whether physical interventions are necessary or proportionate and leaders don't evaluate these incidents well enough.
The local authority doesn't have confidence in the school's ability to keep pupils safe.
And sometimes, school leaders investigate concerns themselves, before seeking advice from the council.
This could compromise an investigation and prevent appropriate and timely action from being taken to safeguard pupils.
The school's curriculum is being improved and developed and different subjects are at differing stages.
Learning plans could be improved to better match pupils' needs
Each pupil has an individual learning plan to support pupils to learn the curriculum well.
And the intervention manager has reviewed and improved these plans so that they now have relevant next steps.
Inspectors say these are helpful as they link well to targets in pupils' education, health and care plans.
Teachers use individual learning plans to adapt the curriculum for each pupil.
The plans also identify strategies that help pupils to learn successfully.
Where this works well, learning is calm, relevant and purposeful and disruptions caused by poor behaviour have reduced through the year, but still occur.
This is particularly the case when learning is not matched well enough to pupils' needs.
And pupils become unsettled when activities are too easy.
Inspectors also say some adults over-support learning, which can prevent pupils from developing resilience and independence.
'Changes have already been made'
A spokesperson for the White Horse Federation which is responsible for the school said: "The trust and school leaders are working with external agencies to implement a rapid improvement plan.
"Changes have already been made which have addressed the issues highlighted within the Ofsted report.
"The White Horse Federation accepts its responsibility to safeguard children within its schools and will do whatever it takes to restore levels of confidence in the Peak Academy’s ability to protect children."