Harrop Fold School, as seen on the Channel 4 show ‘Educating Greater Manchester’, has been put into special measures by Ofsted after being found inadequate in all areas.
A new inspection report, released yesterday by Salford City Council, said the school is “failing its pupils” and “significant and wide-ranging weaknesses have developed over time” that require urgent improvement.
The council said the Department for Education will now identify an experienced academy sponsor to support the school, which has 860 pupils aged 11 to 16.
Deputy City Mayor, Councillor John Merry, was clearly disturbed by the findings of the report, but feels that this is the result of more long-term problems that the school has had.
He said: “The Ofsted inspectors have identified and highlighted unsafe historic practices at the school, along with poor performance and achievement.
“Practices include the inappropriate, informal exclusion of pupils, deliberate miss-recording of attendance and weak practice in staff recruitment. This has potentially compromised the safeguarding of pupils as leaders and staff have not been in a position to ensure that they are safe.
“I want to reassure all parents that, since the start of the September term, the interim senior leadership team provided by the local authority has stopped these practices. Moreover, Ofsted inspectors highlighted the current leadership as a strength for the school.
I know there is a committed and hardworking team at Harrop Fold who want to do the very best for pupils. They should draw positives from the report in which Ofsted says new approaches introduced in many aspects of school life are having a real impact, even if they are at an early stage. It is important the whole school community gets behind the changes and works to common goals.
This isn’t the first high profile problem that the school has faced this year. Back in September the Little Hulton School mad the headlines when headteacher Drew Povey resigned following what he described as “heavy handed tactics” by Salford City Council.
Educating Greater Manchester head Drew Povey resigns, blaming ‘heavy handed’ council
The Department of education will now seek for an academy sponser to support the school, to the anger of Salford Council. On their wesbite they stated:
“Salford City Council does not agree with the Government’s academy policy.
“The council does not want any Salford school to become an academy but will work with academy schools where schools have chosen to become academies or are forced to do so.”
The process will now take a few months of a transitional period whilst a suitable sponsor is found.
Jennifer Brierley, a local teacher, took to Twitter to explain her anger at the council, stating that she feels former head Drew Povey is being balmed for the schools failiure despite being marked ‘good’ in their last Ofsted inspection.
So it’s inadequate and they are trying to blame @drewpovey no way not having it, YOU Salford council are to blame, all @drewpovey ever did was help our children flourish plus all the old staff members of team harrop, I salute you all
— jo eccleston (@80_joeccleston) November 26, 2018
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