AN under fire secondary school in Durham that received a ‘below average’ Ofsted inspection has undergone fresh pressure from parents after facing a ‘vote of no confidence’ of the leadership at the educational institution.
St Leonard’s Catholic School, based on North End in the centre of Durham, was handed a ‘requires improvement’ grading on April 12 after inspectors visited the secondary school and sixth form on January 26 and 27 this year.
Despite finding ‘good’ elements within ‘the quality of education’, ‘behaviour and attitudes’, ‘sixth-form provision’ and ‘personal development’, a grade of ‘requires improvement’ within leadership and management sealed the overall mark for the school.
Read more: St Leonard's Durham gets poor Ofsted report after 'serious concerns'
This inspection was carried out following complaints made to Ofsted that raised “serious concerns,” including a “fragmented” relationship between parents and senior management, as well as concerns expressed over SEND provision at the secondary school and sixth form, which teaches a total of 1386 secondary students and 235 sixth formers.
Within the report, lead inspector of Ofsted, James Duncan, noted that “the leaders’ effectiveness in driving whole-school improvement has been inconsistent and has lacked sufficient rigour and coherence,” due to the high turnover of staff.
In contrast, the Durham-based school was praised by Ofsted inspectors for running a “calm and controlled” environment, while also noting “Incidents of poor behaviour are infrequent.”
Now, two weeks on from the Ofsted judgement, and “extensive concerns” expressed from parents, a petition has been launched – looking to spark a ‘vote of no confidence’ in leadership at St Leonard’s.
The petition, which has appeared on website Change.org, was launched by parent Paul Jenner in response to the concerns raised about the SEND provision at the school and has already garnered 342 signatures in just under a week.
In the petition, Mr Jenner says: “Children are not receiving the support that they should do and that is advised by other professionals and many children with SEN have been punished and suspended for the smallest of reasons, many out of their control which in my opinion, and the opinion of many professionals, is down to the lack of support.
“Children are suffering by bad decision making, vision, communication, and lack of respect for children, parents, and staff.
“It is unfortunate that a huge number of teachers have left and are leaving (also highlighted in the Ofsted report).
“Before a child does something extreme because of the treatment these children are receiving, we are calling for urgent action to be taken.”
In response to questions over the leadership at the school, headteacher at St Leonard’s, Chris Hammill, has ‘fully accepted’ the Ofsted report and is keen to move on in the future.
Mr Hammill told The Northern Echo: “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."
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