Head demands Bury St Edmunds school be taken off critical Ofsted list

A headteacher is calling on Ofsted to remove his school from a list of those failing to adequately prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.

Hugh O’Neill says it is ‘inaccurate and misleading’ for St Benedict’s Catholic School to be placed on the list by the education watchdog.

However, Ofsted has insisted that schools on the list ‘could have been doing more to prepare pupils for life in Britain today’.

It follows a controversial Ofsted report about the school following a no-notice inspection. It claimed younger students did not show enough ‘awareness of the dangers of extremism and radicalism’. The report was withdrawn and revised with references removed about insufficiently preparing students against such dangers.

Mr O’Neill said: “There is nothing in the current inspection report to suggest it is regarded as a problem. I think they’ve included us on the list on the basis of the first report and failed to revise the list in the light of the second report.”

In the revised report, Ofsted inspectors noted that ‘provision for students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is generally good’ and ‘opportunities to develop respect for and tolerance of others are a strength’. They said the ‘recently appointed citizenship leader is rightly planning more opportunities for students to consider how negative challenges to modern democratic values may arise and can be overcome’.

Bosses at the Catholic Education Service say they are concerned at St Benedict’s place on the list. Director Paul Barber said: “This is an unjust and unsubstantiated accusation and we hope Ofsted will clarify this matter and apologise to the school and parents for the confusion and upset caused.”

Mr O’Neill added: “It’s puzzling and a bit worrying that having had this pointed out to them by the Catholic Education Service, they’re reluctant to take us off that list.”

An Ofsted spokesman said a recent advice note to the Secretary of State summarised the findings of 35 no-notice inspections and inspectors found ‘a number of the schools could have been doing more to prepare pupils for life in Britain today’. He said: “This definition covers a wide range of issues other than dealing effectively with extremism and radicalisation and includes how a school’s curriculum and other activities raise the pupils’ awareness of different aspects of how our society works.”

Chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw will meet with the Catholic Education Service to discuss Ofsted’s inspection frameworks and guidance.