SAFEGUARDING at a special school in Heaton is still “not effective,” ten months after inspectors ordered it to improve.

In January, Ofsted inspectors judged High Park School in Heaton to be inadequate, and placed it in special measures.

A highly critical report said the school had “inadequate safeguarding checks” to make sure staff are suitable to work with the vulnerable children at the school.

After a follow up visit last month, Ofsted inspectors once again raised concerns about safeguarding, called for the school to make “urgent” improvements, and criticised Bradford Council for failing to tackle weak leadership in the school.

The council has revealed that the special school is in the process of converting to an academy.

High Park has 100 children aged three to 19 on its roll. Pupils at the school have communication and interaction difficulties, and most pupils have a diagnosis of autism.

The latest report said while checks were being made on whether staff were suitable to work at the school, the record of the required checks “did not meet statutory requirements.”

It also says that minutes of governor’s meetings showed that they “have failed to hold senior leaders robustly to account for tackling the critically important weaknesses identified at the school’s last inspection.

“Governors have not ensured that the school’s arrangements for safeguarding meet statutory requirements. Crucially, leaders and governors have not checked whether the actions taken since the last inspection, including those taken in response to an external review of safeguarding, have been effective.

“Governors, in particular, have a weak understanding of the effectiveness of the school’s current safeguarding arrangements.”

The report refers to Bradford Council’s roll in the school’s improvement, saying: "An external review of the school’s safeguarding arrangements was commissioned following the last inspection.

“However, the recommendations from this review have not been fully implemented within the timescales identified in the local authority’s statement of action.

“The local authority has not done enough to tackle the weaknesses in the leadership and management of safeguarding since the last inspection. As a result, the failings in governance, in particular, have persisted.”

Councillor Imran Khan, Executive Member for Education said: “High Park School will convert to an academy in the near future.

“The council has assisted the school in finding two additional governors and also brokered a review of the school’s governance by one of the district’s National Leaders of Governance earlier this year, in a bid to bring about the improvements required.

"The introduction of the two new Governors aims to provide the support which the school needs. This support was the quickest form of action with regards to improving Governance given that the academy conversion is so close.

“We accept the findings of the Ofsted inspection and continue to offer support and challenge to the leadership and management of the school to ensure they take urgent action to make the improvements required.

“Prior to this inspection Local Authority officers did meet with the Chair of Governors and the Headteacher to identify the areas which need to be addressed.

“Whilst the council knows there is much work to be done, the report does acknowledge that teachers and other adults are knowledgeable about safeguarding and understand why children and young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are more vulnerable.”

The school was unavailable for comment due to the half term holiday.

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