All Saints School in Weymouth found to be 'inadequate' by Ofsted

All Saints Church of England School in Sunnyside Road was handed an 'inadequate' rating by Ofsted. It was revealed this morning that Budmouth College was also found to be inadequate.

The report, published today, said dysfunctional leadership, weak teaching and an 'excuse culture' had led to All Saints' decline.

The school was previously handed a 'requires improvement' rating in February 2017.

The report said: "The inaction of leaders and governors since the last inspection has allowed the school to deteriorate rapidly. As a result of their inertia, standards of teaching, behaviour and safety have all declined significantly."

It added pupils at the school had made less progress in 2017 than in 90 per cent of other schools in the country and outcomes in science were particularly poor.

Inspectors found pupils did not make the progress they were capable of, because teachers’ expectations of them were too low while disadvantaged pupils made substantially less progress than their peers.

According to the report, pupils were not taught to write effectively and a whole-school literacy policy, which focused on spelling, punctuation and grammar was widely ignored.

Inspectors noted pupils who have special educational needs and disabilities were not well taught and often could not access work because it was not adapted by teachers to address their needs.

Pupils' personal development, behaviour and welfare was found to be inadequate.

The report said leaders had not ensured vulnerable pupils were supported sufficiently and pupils were kept safe.

Inspectors found around a quarter of parents were concerned about their children's safety. Some pupils also reported unsafe behaviour from other pupils at breaks and lunchtimes which had not been tackled by school leaders.

Inspectors said although most pupils were respectful of others, a small group of pupils were unruly and badly behaved and there had been some instances of racially-based abuse in the school.

"Pupils have only a vague understanding of British values and are not fully equipped to thrive in a modern multicultural society," the report said.

It added leaders had failed to address the behaviour of pupils who bully vulnerable pupils.

Inspectors added senior leaders had allowed an 'excuse culture' to take hold in the school and leaders and teachers were too ready to blame external factors for pupils' poor progress.

Governance at the school was found to be inadequate after inspectors said the governing body failed to hold school leaders to account and had not tackled shortcomings evident in last year's GCSE results.

The report said the governing body had recently been replaced by an Interim Executive Board (IEB) which would oversee the school until new arrangements were in place.

The school's response

Harry Turner, Chair of the IEB said: “The school’s leadership and IEB fully accept the findings of this frankly challenging report by OFSTED and are ready for the challenge of ensuring that All Saints School becomes an outstanding school.

“Since the inspection, we have been looking for opportunities to make positive changes, including some already made to the leadership of the school. We have already actioned a new behaviour policy, improvements to safeguarding, and new systems to drive improvement.

“Mr Broadway, headteacher, has been suffering from ill health since January and this has created a capacity issue for the remaining members of the leadership team to lead the change required by the OFSTED inspection. We have been grateful for the input of Queen Elizabeth’s School and in particular Mr Martin McLeman, Headteacher, and Mr Brian Boyes, Deputy Headteacher, who have reviewed the structures of the school and helped the school address the issues raised by OFSTED.

“A key issue was the capacity of the Governing Body to effectively monitor how the school was performing. It has been under strength for some time and we are extremely grateful for their efforts to help the school amidst their own demanding professions.  It has become clear, however, the school will need additional capacity to oversee the improvements required.

“The Diocesan Board of Education and Dorset Council have determined that a more experienced governing body is needed to move the school back into the ‘Outstanding’ OFSTED category. An Interim Executive Board has been appointed which will ensure that the Christian ethos of the school is maintained. This group of experienced governors will help formulate an Action Plan, overseen by Mr McLeman, to accelerate the school’s rate of progress.”

Brian Boyes, Acting Headteacher said: “The report identifies five main areas for improvement: Safeguarding, Effectiveness of Leadership and Management, Quality of Teaching, Personal Development, and Outcomes. The action plan will address all these issues in great detail and depth, ensuring that rapid and sustained progress is secured.

“Progress has already been made in the few weeks since the Inspection, with improvements in safeguarding already actioned, a new behaviour policy about to be launched and systems in place to ensure that teaching and learning standards improve rapidly.

“We are extremely grateful for the effort, support and direction of the Governing Body and trust that the new governance will work in the best interests of the pupils, parents and staff of All Saints School, seeking to maintain our unique ethos within the local community and deliver an outstanding education for all of our students.”

To see our story about Budmouth's Ofsted report CLICK HERE