AN independent school in the Aire Valley for children with behavioural difficulties has been shut down by its operators after a highly critical Ofsted report.

New Gables, based on New Close Road, Shipley, was a small independent school for children aged between nine and 18 and with behavioural and social difficulties. Pupils lived on site, and at the time of last month's inspection, there were three pupils attending.

Annual fees for the school were listed as being over £31,000. Operators, the Cambian Group, took over from former proprietor Advanced Childcare earlier this year, and inherited numerous problems.

An Ofsted report into the school, released over the weekend, found that there was a "systemic failure" of policies, that pupils' behaviour was not being adequately dealt with and that there were no text books available. They deemed that it did not meet standards of independent schools.

The school was given a 15-point plan to improve, but the Cambian Group told the Telegraph & Argus last night that the school had now been closed.

Inspectors were asked by the Department for Education to carry out an unannounced inspection after a complaint about the school raised concerns about student behaviour and the quality of education.

When inspectors visited last month they found that when head Val Smith was recently appointed to the school there were "almost no resources."

Their report says: "Shortcomings are evident in the provision and effectiveness of the school.

"Although students state that things were much worse before the appointment of the current headteacher, poor behaviour is a regular occurrence and is a significant barrier to learning.

"There are no text books available and the headteacher explains that there were no resources at the school when she first arrived.

"Students regularly absent themselves from lessons and state lessons are not interesting. They say things are getting better, but there is a legacy of poor attitudes and poor behaviour."

The school's plans for dealing with challenging behaviour were described as ineffective at dealing with poor behaviour.

A spokesman for the group acknowledged the problems at the school and revealed that decisive action had been taken.

The spokesman said: "We recognise the shortfalls of the New Gables school, this was a small school associated to a specialist care home, that we took over earlier this year. This is a model of education that we are moving away from, we have now taken action and closed this school."