PARENTS of children that attend an under fire Durham school have branded the education facility as “appalling” after serious concerns were highlighted about the leadership of the school and SEN provision in a recent Ofsted report.
St Leonard’s Catholic School in Durham city centre was handed a ‘requires improvement’ grade on April 12 after inspectors visited the secondary school and sixth form in January this year.
Despite finding ‘good’ elements within several categories, including ‘the quality of education’, ‘behaviour and attitudes’, ‘sixth-form provision’ and ‘personal development’, the report went on to say there was a “fragmented” relationship between parents and the school, as well as problems with dealing with SEN and disadvantaged pupils.
Read more: St Leonard's Durham gets poor Ofsted report after 'serious concerns'
Alongside the concerns, the school was adjudged to ‘require improvement’ in the leadership and management section - with James Duncan, lead inspector of Ofsted, saying that “the leader’s effectiveness in driving whole-school improvement had been inconsistent and has lacked sufficient rigour and coherence,” due to a high turnover of staff.
Now, three days after the ‘damning’ report has been published, parents that have children at St Leonard’s, many of which have special educational needs, have hit out at the “appalling” treatment that the school have put them through.
Paul Kelly, whose daughter attend the Catholic secondary school and sixth form, has accused the leadership at St Leonard’s of “never accepting responsibility for their failings”.
In the past, Mr Kelly has lodged a formal complaint against the Durham-based school – but isn’t hopeful that the “pattern of failings” will change.
He told the Northern Echo: “I am appalled at the treatment of this school towards my daughter and myself.
“The leadership refuse to accept any fault, the chair of Governors has no real power to challenge the head - which is what he told me when I lodged a formal complaint.
“They have taken no notice of Ofsted’s findings and continue to treat pupils and parents as appallingly.”
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Within the Ofsted report, it was noted that the inspection was carried out following complaints made to Ofsted that raised “serious concerns”.
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector decided that an inspection of the school should take place to follow up the whole-school issues that were raised.
Another parent of a child at St Leonard’s, Victoria Davies, has a daughter with disabilities that she alleges was thrown out of class for “typical traits and behaviours of ADHD,” while she has also accused the school of “stifling” freedom of speech through its social media accounts.
Mrs Davies said: “My younger daughter is still in attendance there. Her experience is slightly different in that the children are constantly checked to make sure uniforms are correct so that the school looks good.
“That unfortunately is the only thing they are concerned with. There is a twitter account and Instagram account for the school and if anyone makes a negative comment they are removed and blocked. In what world is freedom of speech wrong?”
As well as the concerns of parents, City of Durham MP, Mary Kelly Foy, has waded into the issues at St Leonard’s – saying that she will “fully consult” the school and its education provider, Bishop Wilkinson Trust.
Speaking to The Northern Echo, Ms Foy said: “As Chair of the APPG for Cerebral Palsy and a Disabled Children's Champion in parliament the education and welfare of SEND students is extremely important to me.
“Over the past 12 months I have raised the concerns of Parents at St Leonards School regarding the schools SEND provision with senior leadership, while also signposting parents to the official complaint processes with the Schools Governors and the Department for Education.
“After reviewing Ofsted’s report in full, I will be considering further ways that I can support parents, pupils, and the school to address these identified issues. As such I will be raising the report with Senior Leadership at the school and the Bishop Wilkinson Trust in the coming days.”
In response to the claims made against the school, headteacher of St Leonard’s, Chris Hammill has “accepted” the Ofsted rating, and wants to build on work he believes the school is doing.
He said: "We fully accept the areas for improvement identified through the report.
"We continue to work hard for all our pupils, especially those with SEND and look forward to continuing to positively engage with families in this regard.
"We ask any families with outstanding questions to let the school know so we can provide the support necessary."
- Read a full interview with Chris Hammill in Saturday's Northern Echo
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