Special school rated 'inadequate' by Ofsted tells parents it is working to improve

A special needs school heavily criticised by the education watchdog said parents will be kept updated as it works to improve.

The ‘inadequate’ rating – Ofsted’s lowest ranking – handed to Thomas Ashton School means it is in special measures and must also legally become an academy, although government papers suggest that process may have already been under way.

A spokesman said: “We will keep parents informed of our progress and have reassured them that we are working extremely hard towards swift improvements of the school’s overall performance.”

Ofsted said pupils at the school, in Bennett Street, Hyde, were frequently exposed to swear words and derogatory language and faced aggression from their classmates, while the curriculum was also criticised.

In a letter to parents at the end of 2023, headteacher Emma Stewart, who was not in charge when the school was given a ‘good’ rating at its previous inspection before the pandemic, said she was waiting for the Department for Education (DfE) to name an academy trust for it to join.

The Hyde school, which has 99 pupils aged five to 14, applied to become an academy in July, several months before inspectors visited, DfE documents show.

It has been 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”, the spokesman added.

While children at the school are overall happy there – enjoying small classes and being with their friends – Ofsted’s report said behaviour is not managed well.

“This means that pupils frequently hear swear words and derogatory language,” it said.

“A significant minority of pupils display aggression at times towards others.”

Some children know “they can avoid learning by not behaving well”, it added.

Safeguarding arrangements were found to be effective but the school’s systems for recording concerns “do not provide enough assurances to the school or governors that agreed actions have happened”, leading to the “potential for some safeguarding referrals to go unchecked”.