The Office for Standards in Education may face its first legal challenge from a school it has accused of failing to provide adequate education.
Governors of Breeze Hill in Oldham, a 900-pupil comprehensive, have failed in their High Court attempt to stop publication of the inspectors’ report, but further legal action will be considered when the report is received.
The school has already been told by Her Majesty’s Inspectors, who work for OFSTED, that low standards of achievement and poor teaching mean urgent action is required. The HMI team inspected the school in September to check the findings of the full inspection carried out by an independent contractor the previous November. Bernard Phillips, the head, maintains the original inspection did not identify serious weaknesses and was encouraging about improvements in attendance rates.
Both the local authority and the governors claim HMI has been unfair to the school, which serves a deprived, predominantly Asian community on the outskirts of Oldham.
The first report noted unsatisfactory exam results, but said standards achieved by pupils were appropriate to their levels of ability. Exam results are well below the national average - this year 12.9 per cent of fifth-formers achieved five or more higher grade GCSEs.
Dr William Kneen, Oldham’s director of education, said: “Although the detailed contents of the report by HMI in September are not yet known, it is quite clear they will be adverse to Breeze Hill. This is totally unreasonable when the school is already improving standards of education as reflected in improved exam results.”
The local education authority supported the school’s High Court action to halt the report and will consider further legal support. According to OFSTED, the report is likely to be published at the end of the month.
A spokesman for OFSTED said HMI visited the school because of concern at exam results; an attendance rate of 53 per cent in the fifth-form and the number of exclusions (197 temporary exclusions and 13 permanent exclusions).
Since the introduction of regular inspection, 12 other secondary schools have been failed. Of those, two have been failed following monitoring carried out by HMI.
