A DAMNING Ofsted report has slammed the quality of teaching and pupils’ behaviour at a Rugby secondary school – where pupils wander out of lessons ‘for a break’ and walk the corridors.
Rugby Free Secondary School has been placed in ‘Category 4: Inadequate with Serious Weaknesses’ by the education watchdog after the report revealed ineffective teaching, low morale and disruptive behaviour were rife.
The trust which runs the school has responded with ‘huge disappointment’ and outlined plans to address shortcomings.
Reporting on the school’s first inspection since opening in September 2016, lead inspector Bianka Zemke said: “Pupils’ behaviour, the quality of teaching and the progress pupils make are weak.
“Relationships between staff are broken and morale at the school is extremely low.
“Too many pupils arrive late to lessons and leave lessons throughout ‘for a break’. They then walk the corridors and disrupt the learning of other classrooms.
“Literacy mistakes are left uncorrected, which results in pupils’ literacy levels remaining lower than they should be.
“Too often, teachers’ expectations of what pupils, especially those of middle ability, can achieve are too low. As a result, pupils do less work than they are capable of or leave work unfinished.
“Governors in the past have not acted swiftly enough to hold leaders to account for the falling standards of behaviour and the quality of teaching at the school.”
The report acknowledged the Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow multiacademy trust which runs the school had begun to address weaknesses and was well placed to continue improvement.
It also said pupils were well informed about future career paths, support for vulnerable pupils was strong, and pupils with special educational needs or disabilities make good progress.
The Chair and Chief Executive of Learning Today Leading Tomorrow released a statement saying all involved with the school felt “huge disappointment” at the report.
They said: “We have already apologised unreservedly to the parents and carers who have placed their children in our care.”
They said the Trust had taken executive control of the school and instructed CEO Brenda Mullen to assume direct management and develop a recovery plan.
It is also setting up a Sustainable Improvement Board (SIB) to govern the school, address weaknesses and enable the school to secure a rating of at least ‘Good’ at its next inspection.
Addressing a “significant and rapid deterioration in behaviour since the turn of the year,” the trust has appointed a new Deputy Head with special responsibility for behaviour, student welfare and inclusion, and is developing a new behaviour system that will be implemented from the start of the new academic year.
A new timetable has already been implemented, moving from eight 40-minute periods to five 60-minute periods per day.
The trust added: “The impact of the changes since the inspection have been felt in school already with many positive comments from parents and children alike in relation to the improvement of this aspect of school life.
“We are not underestimating the task ahead of the school both in terms of improving the Ofsted judgement and restoring parents and carers’ faith in the school.
“The unique community that was built to bring the school into being is as strong as it ever was and will play a major part in the ongoing improvements the trust will strain every sinew to bring about.
“The progress that has been made allows us to look to the future with optimism and an absolute resolve to make Rugby Free Secondary School an institution that the whole community can be proud of.”
The school opened in 2016 on a temporary site at the old Rokeby Primary School building in Anderson Avenue. It will move to new purpose-built premises in September.
Visit www.reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/23/142881 to read the full Ofsted report. Visit https://rugbyfreesecondary.co.uk/ofsted to read the trust’s response in full.
