Governors at a free school that was placed in special measures after it chose not to enter any pupils into GCSEs last summer have resigned, claiming they have been bullied by Ofsted.
An open resignation letter from the Route 39 Academy Trust-appointed and parent-appointed governors says inspectors had left staff and governors at their school feeling “bullied, ignored and humiliated”.
They also criticise the decision of the regional schools commissioner to move the school to another academy trust with a “traditional approach which is ideologically opposed to that of the Route 39 founding vision”.
Route 39 Academy is a secondary free school, which opened in Devon in 2013. It was placed in special measures by Ofsted last year after being rated “inadequate” in all inspection areas.
Ofsted said that its inspection was well-evidenced and that the school had “potentially damaged the life chances of some of its pupils by illegally refusing to enter them for GCSE examinations”.
The Department for Education said it was now working to put an interim governing board in place at the school.
Route 39 Academy is set to be sponsored by Launceston College, which is already working with the school.
In the open resignation letter, which has been published on the school site and addressed to the RSC for the South West, Lisa Mannall, the governors say they have “no confidence that the plans for Route 39 Academy are in the best interests of students, staff or parents”.
Ofsted judged school ‘inadequate’
The Ofsted inspection last year said the school had judged that the current Year 11 pupils had “made such inadequate progress that they believe they would have significantly underachieved had they been entered for public examinations at the end of key stage 4”.
The inspectors say the average attainment of the cohort was higher than the national figure at the end of key stage 2.
In a letter to parents last year, Route 39 Academy said it had decided to enter all 11 of its current Year 11 pupils for GCSEs a year later in 2018 at the request of some parents.
The Ofsted report said this was “in breach of statutory requirements and the school’s own funding agreement”.
However, the governors challenged this and said they have a statement from the RSC office stating that the decision to defer GCSE entry was “within the parameters of the legal framework”.
An Ofsted spokeswoman said: “Our inspection of the Route 39 Academy was well-evidenced. The school potentially damaged the life chances of some of its pupils by illegally refusing to enter them for GCSE examinations. Without doubt, this placed staff in a difficult position.
“The inspection found that the academy trust’s enthusiasm was not translating into tangible outcomes for children at the school.
“The trust’s complaint was not upheld and they did not pursue it to the next stage, which would have involved a scrutiny panel, including one person from outside Ofsted.”
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “Where any school is not meeting the standards we expect, we will not hesitate to take action to address this and bring about improvements for the young people involved.
“We are working with Route 39 Academy to complete proposals for the preferred choice of academy sponsor, Launceston College, which is already working closely with the school and is committed to raising standards for pupils at the academy.”
