A secondary school where pupils are ‘unhappy’ and bullying is ‘commonplace’ has been placed in special measures following a damning inspection.
The report adds: “Occasionally, pupils also experience homophobic and racist language. Some pupils told inspectors that they have come to accept that this type of behaviour is their daily experience of school life. Many pupils said that they are ‘fed up’ with the situation.” “Many pupils truant from lessons or choose to enter classrooms late,” Ofsted said. “This happens frequently because leaders and staff do not do enough to challenge pupils when they choose to truant from lessons.
Ofsted said that too many pupils aged between 11 and 16 were ‘unnecessarily repeating what they have learned at primary school’. The school had also recently begun initiatives supporting pupils that struggle to read and improving spoken communication and pupils were ‘beginning to benefit from the growing range of extra-curricular activities available to them’.