Wolverhampton academy delays blamed for bad school report

Government inspectors found a culture of poor teaching and unruly classes in their latest inspection at Grove Primary School in Wolverhampton.

Wolverhampton council said it had been working with other high performing schools in the area to help raise standards.

The academy sponsor withdrew earlier this summer and at that stage the council brokered support for the school from a new senior leadership team from St Martin's Multi-Academy Trust, who run the Good-rated St Martin's Primary School in Bilston.

The authority said it has also helped to strengthen governance at the school through the appointment of a new chair of governors and several additional co-opted governors.

The latest Ofsted inspection took place in June at the school in Caledonia Road.

The latest rating means the school, which has 320 pupils, has been in special measures for two years.

The city's education boss, Councillor Claire Darke, said: "While this is a disappointing inspection report for Grove Primary School, we are encouraged to note that Ofsted recognises that the school's new leadership team has made a swift start in identifying Grove Primary's main weaknesses and improving the effectiveness of staff.

"Grove Primary School remains a popular school and I'd like to reassure parents and pupils that the council is continuing to work closely with the new leadership team to improve teaching and learning at Grove Primary and address the issues raised by inspectors."

She added: "Around 76 per cent of schools in Wolverhampton are now rated as either good or outstanding by Ofsted, compared to 56 per cent two years ago, demonstrating that the support offered by the council to underperforming schools in Wolverhampton is having the desired effect, and I expect to see further evidence of improving standards at Grove Primary School in the near future."

In the report, inspectors gave the school a clean sweep of 'inadequate' ratings in the key criteria of leadership and management, behaviour and safety of pupils, quality of teaching, achievement and early years provision.

Some pupils were said to not tell staff they were being bullied through fear of reprisals, the report said, while not enough staff were on duty at break times to ensure pupils were kept safe.

Inspectors witnessed poor behaviour from a 'significant' number of pupils in and around the school, and noted 'bored and disengaged' pupils disturbing others during lessons.

The standard of reading, writing and maths was said to be 'too low', with pupils across all year groups failing to make the required progress.

Attendance was also said to have been 'well below the national average' for some time.

The report noted that the school has arranged support through St Martin's Multi Academy Trust, with interim executive headteacher Lynne Law taking over in April to become the third head at Grove Primary in five months.

This had led to a 'refreshed approach' in improving the school, it said.