LevellerLive

In November last year we reported that the Steiner Academy, Frome was put into special measures. This followed an Inadequate grading by Ofsted inspectors.

Now a new report by Ofsted has been published. It follows a monitoring review in September. The conclusion has two black marks against the school and they are these:

• Leaders and managers are not taking effective action towards the removal of special measures.
• The trust’s statement of action is not fit for purpose.

This is not exactly good news. On the plus side the inspector’s agreed that “The school’s improvement plan is fit for purpose.”  That much is a relief but it is clear that all is not well in the view of the Inspectors.

The report notes that “There has been significant turbulence in the staffing and leadership of the school, including governance, since the school was deemed to require special measures in November 2018.”

Leadership at the school has been described as “dysfunctional” and perhaps most alarmingly “Additional funding for disadvantaged pupils continues to be spent inappropriately. For example, funding has been allocated to the administration of the school and not for the pupils.”

And the final word from the Inspectors suggests that the use of external influence to help improve things has not gone well either “The support provided by Bridgwater College has not been sufficiently effective. Interim school leaders have not been provided with the support and guidance required to tackle the significant areas needed to improve the quality of education pupils receive. Consequently, the pace of improvement has been far too slow.”

There has been a new head brought in but she had only been in post for five days at the date of the inspection. She clearly has a few challenging months ahead of her…..