Preston school reinspection demanded after 'inadequate' rating from regulator

There are calls for a reinspection of a Preston primary school, which was rated 'inadequate' by the regulator, after more than 200 people signed a petition.

Eldon Primary School was handed the judgement by Ofsted last month, seeing it drop from its 'outstanding' status seven years ago

Ofsted criticised what it described as the “sustained high turnover in staffing” and the “fractured relationships between the school and some parents and carers” for a decline in pupils’ education.

Under government legislation, the poor grading of the 250-pupil school means it is now set to become an academy and so leave the control of Lancashire County Council.

The Blackburn-based Star Academies chain has been named as the preferred sponsor of the school, with an academy order due to have been considered at a regional meeting of the Department for Education on Thursday. However, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands no final decision has yet been taken.

Meanwhile, amidst that process, parents past and present are lining up to defend Eldon and its long-serving headteacher Azra Butt.

While the report by Ofsted recognised a raft of positives about the school – including the behaviour of the children and the breadth of the curriculum – the 206 signatories to the petition have described the overall rating as an “unjust downgrade”.

They are calling for “a full, unbiased reinspection” of the establishment, which they say “deserves a fair evaluation that truly reflects its outstanding contributions to education and our community”.

Dr. Mohammed Elshamy, who started the petition, told the LDRS:  “Inadequate is definitely an inadequate label to be placed on that school.”

He added:  “I can understand Ofsted are seeking higher standards and if it came to the rating maybe being ‘good’ instead of ‘outstanding’, I would feel sorry for the teachers, because I’ve seen what they do – but I would say maybe that’s just to push them.

“I’m not saying that everything is perfect or that there’s no place for improvement.  But labelling the work as inadequate – there’s no way on earth that would be true and fair.”

“We receive messages from the school at all hours – that means there are people who dedicate a lot of their life, even beyond what their duty is, to try to help the children,” said Dr. Elshamy, whose son spent five years at Eldon before moving to secondary school this year.

Muhammad Mailk, who has two children currently at the school, not only wants Ofsted to return for a second look – but to rethink how they respond to what they find.  As somebody who has been on both sides of the quality assurance process in his own career, he says the regulator has taken the wrong approach with Eldon – by pointing out problems without giving time for them to be rectified.

“You highlight those points that are good and those that are under par and say, ‘You need to improve in this area – and you have two months, three months’ or whatever and we will revisit.

“No such thing happened here…they just told them that the school was going to become an academy,” Muhammed said.   He also highlighted the academic performance of the school.

“You can see in the results that they are meeting almost all the standards throughout the UK – or even exceeding those standards.

“All of sudden a report is released saying most things are fine and because of only one factor – which is mainly related to the complaint-handling procedure – they put it down as inadequate,” Muhammed added.

The latest government statistics for pupils who left Eldon in the summer of 2023 show that 77 percent of that key stage 2 cohort was meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths – compared to the Lancashire average of 59 percent and the England average of 60 percent.

In its report, Ofsted acknowledged the above average performance in those subjects, but said that in many others, “pupils do not learn all that they should”.   It found that the school had become “distracted” by dealing with staff grievances and parental complaints.

However, Dr. Elshamy said the picture painted by Ofsted was unfair.  “We feel so let down as a community, because this school…is a very important part of the society and they are doing exceptionally good work.”

When approached by the LDRS over the concerns raised about the rating of Eldon Primary, Ofsted said it had nothing to add to the findings of its inspection report.

The governing body in place at the school until earlier this month – when it was replaced by an interim executive board installed by Lancashire County Council in the wake of the Ofsted judgement – had already launched an appeal against the inspection outcome.

Now that those governors are no longer in post, it is unclear whether that challenge will still be considered by the regulator.    Ofsted told the LDRS that it did not comment on individual complaints, while Lancashire County Council also declined to comment on the status of the appeal.

The issue is a crucial one for Eldon’s future, as any uprating from inadequate of a school set to be turned into an academy is one of the few circumstances in which the process can be halted – although it still requires the intervention of a government minister.

The Department for Education was also approached by the LDRS regarding the progress of the academy order that is automatically issued after a school has been rated inadequate.