Thomas Ashton School placed in special measures by Ofsted after failing to halt 'decline in education'

A special needs school in Tameside has been put in special measures after failing to ‘stem the decline in education’. 

Following an inspection from Ofsted, Thomas Ashton School in Hyde has dropped from a ‘Good’ rating to ‘Inadequate’. The school curriculum, student attendance rates and poor behaviour are the key issues highlighted by the education watchdog during an inspection back in November.

The Ofsted report, published at the end of December, stated that students do not receive appropriate education that meets their special educational needs and do not learn what they should in many subjects.

Inspectors did say that safeguarding measures are effective, students are happy at the Bennett Street site and have opportunities to work in the community. Despite the school pupils doing positive work for a variety of local and national charities in the community, their education is sub-par in the eyes of Ofsted.

“Pupils, all of whom have SEND [special educational needs and disabilities], experience a poor quality of education,” the Ofsted report read. “This is because the curriculum has not been shaped well enough to take account of their needs. 

“The school has not given enough thought to how subjects come together to form a coherent, well-ordered curriculum. The knowledge that pupils should learn and the order in which this should be taught have not been identified.”

The report went on to criticise the lack of emphasis on reading and described a “negative attitude” towards books among pupils. As a result of this and a lack of staff understanding in teaching phonics, pupils at the school struggle to read, the report said.

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In addition to this, poor pupil behaviour and attendance are all additional factors that led to the school being put into special measures. Inspectors believe that the senior leadership teams and governors should be doing more to stop the school’s educational decline.

The school was rated as inadequate in the categories of education quality; behaviour and attitudes; and leadership – with a requires improvement grade in personal development.

A Thomas Ashton School spokesperson said: “Following an inspection, Ofsted found that our pupils feel safe in school and enjoy coming to school, with safeguarding judged to be effective.

“However, the school has received an overall rating of ‘Inadequate’ and has been placed in Special Measures. We understand that this will be of concern to parents and the school community and steps were immediately put in place, with the support of the Local Authority, including additional leadership support and the appointment of a new governing body. 

“We are also working with the New Bridge Academy Trust, a very successful multi-academy trust that has been supporting the school to improve for some months already. A Post Inspection Action Plan will be available to view on our school website.

“The overall judgement means that the Secretary of State for Education must make an academy order and that Thomas Ashton will become a sponsored academy. We will be working with Tameside Council and the Department for Education closely on this process as we together strive to provide the best education for pupils. 

“Meeting our students’ complex needs and supporting them to build positive relationships, confidence and independence to achieve their aspirations is at the heart of all that we do. We will keep parents informed of our progress and have reassured them that we are working extremely hard towards swift improvement of the school’s overall performance.”