A damning Ofsted report has shed further light on the issues plaguing a school before its sudden closure announcement.
It comes after parents were told that Cornfields School in Hythe Road, Ashford, had become “financially unviable” and would be shutting on July 2.
Now, the education watchdog has published a new report revealing a range of problems which have seen the fee-paying special independent school slapped with an overall rating of “inadequate”.
According to inspectors frequent changes of leadership have seen the quality of education decline “significantly”.
And despite taking steps to “stabilise” the situation, “widespread failings” remain.
“Pupils do not receive the education and experiences that they deserve,” the report notes.
“The school’s expectations of what pupils should and could achieve are too low. The school does not provide well for their identified special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).”
The new rating is a world away from the previous report, which ranked the £37,500-a year education provider as “outstanding” in March 2022 – back when 50 pupils were attending.
In contrast, the special independent school had 16 pupils on its roll when it was inspected by Ofsted from May 13 to 15 this year.
During the visit, inspectors Clive Dunn and Kate Fripp, found the arrangement for safeguarding pupils is “weak” although no evidence was found to show they were being placed at immediate risk of serious harm.
They said: “The school has experienced a turbulent period, with frequent changes of leadership. In this time, the quality of the school’s provision has declined significantly.
“The new proprietor has taken steps to stabilise the situation, but widespread failings remain across many aspects of the school’s work.”
Other areas of concern identified in the report, published on Friday (June 27), included the lack of support for struggling readers and a weak support system which mean staff don’t have the necessary subject knowledge across all subjects they are expected to teach.
“Sometimes adults’ demonstrations for pupils are inaccurate,” it revealed.
The school had already been subjected to an emergency inspection in February 21, 2024, which revealed it did not meet the standards for quality of leadership, with the headteacher having only been in his post for several days.
At that inspection, the school was judged not to have met all of the independent school standards.
Consequently, the school also received a progress monitoring inspection on November 7, 2024, and again, the school was judged not to have met all of the standards.
Now, in this latest Ofsted, inspectors found that the school had not demonstrated the capacity to improve, adding that “previously unmet standards remain unmet”.
Despite this, the report explained staff “care deeply” about pupils and do what is within their control to make the school day positive.
It was also observed that pupils rarely miss school, and that pupils appear “pleased” to arrive in the morning.
It said: “Pupils’ behaviour and attitudes are a credit to both them and staff. Pupils are attentive in lessons and focused on their work.”
However, the overall outcome revealed that the school continues not to meet the previously failed standards, across safeguarding, leadership and management.
On Friday, June 13, a letter was sent from the chair of school governors, Ian Mullins, explaining how the forecast for the number of pupils attending in September “has fallen such that the school is not financially viable”.
He said: “Despite our best efforts to explore alternatives, including amalgamating with the sister school Belle Vue in Cranbrook it has become clear that continuing to operate the school is no longer possible.”
The decision concerned many parents who feared their child would be without a suitable school for the next term.
Danielle-Louise Wynne said the decision will affect her 12-year-old son Cleggan, who attends Cornfields School.
She told KentOnline: “I agree with the school’s closure, but it will leave a lot of parents up the creek without a paddle.”
Due to his needs, Danielle wants to ensure her son attends a specialist school, such as King’s Park School in Ashford, so that Cleggan can continue to excel.
But, despite the strong need for such schools locally and a ribbon-cutting event with the town’s MP Sojan Joseph, it’s sat empty for the last two months.
Back in September, Kent County Council (KCC) removed children from Cornfields School and Belle Vue school.
In a letter sent to parents at the time, KCC said: “The council has concluded that significant concerns for the children’s well-being and quality of education remain which means that the schools are not meeting the terms and conditions set out when your child was placed at the school.
“For these reasons, the decision has been made to end Kent children’s placements at Cornfields School on Friday, October 4, 2024.”
Now both Cornfields School and Belle Vue in Cranbrook are closing on July 2.
