St Anne's Primary School slammed for not having effective safeguarding measures by Ofsted

St Anne's Catholic Primary School, in Pinkerton Road, South Ham, has plunged to an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted - the school had been rated as ‘outstanding’ in its last inspection in 2013.

However, this time around the watchdog found that staff did not “possess a clear understanding of pupils’ welfare needs.”

The school was rated as ‘Inadequate’ in three of the five areas which Ofsted looks at, including personal development, behaviour and welfare, and early years provisions.

The report read: “Leaders and governors have not ensured that safeguarding procedures are effective.

“Systems for reporting and recording information about pupils’ welfare are not fit for purpose.

The procedures used by governors to check leaders’ work in this area was also reported to have failed to identify the weaknesses in the school’s systems.

“As a result, pupils and families at risk of harm cannot be accurately and efficiently identified and supported.”

In regard to early years provision, the report added: “When staff visit nurseries and families they do not ask for, or collect, information that could be used to keep children safe or focus the support for their families.”

Despite being rated as ‘Inadequate’, the inspector did praise the school for the progress pupils showed in foundation subjects such as English and maths, as well as commenting on the good behaviour of the children in classes.

Headteacher of St Anne’s Primary School, Jakki Alexander, said steps have already been made to making sure improvements are made for the next Ofsted visit.

She said: ““The Ofsted inspection identified a number of areas of strength at St Anne’s. These include the quality of our teaching, the breadth of our curriculum, the progress that our pupils make in a range of subjects, the behaviour of our students, and the support we provide to disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs.

“These are all important attributes. Ofsted’s positive assessment in these areas is testament to the hard work and dedication of St Anne’s staff.

“The inspection also tasked the school with improving its systems for recording and reporting safeguarding information about its pupils.

“We can confirm that, with the support of Hampshire County Council’s school improvement team, we have already updated our processes in this area. Parents and children will see further changes in the coming weeks.

“We are encouraged that the inspection found that pupils feel safe at St Anne’s - keeping our children safe has been, and will always remain, a priority at our school.

“We will request another Ofsted inspection in the next few months. We look forward to using this as an opportunity to demonstrate our strengths and highlight the continuing progress we are making as a school.”