Discovery School – hard core of pupils roamed the premises in a “predatory manner”, says unpublished Ofsted report
An unpublished Ofsted report on a £9m Newcastle free school found that the school’s leaders had “not shown the capacity to improve the school” and that it had “hit rock bottom.”
The Discovery School in Newcastle announced earlier this month that it was to close after just four years ahead of a damning report from the education watchdog.
The report rated the school as inadequate across every category.
The detail of the report stated that pupils lacked respect for each other and staff, pointing out that “the frequency of dangerous and unacceptable behaviour is shockingly high” and “A hard core of pupils display riotous behaviour and they roam the school in a predatory manner. The small numbers of girls and others who are singled out as different are vulnerable and do not always feel safe.”
On attainment, the report said progress made by Year 11 pupils last year was in the bottom one per cent nationally and below Government minimum standards.
The city centre school has 228 pupils aged 13-19 but has capacity for 700.
The damning report follows a letter to Principal Gareth Rowe in November following a monitoring inspection in which inspectors appeared to be upbeat about the school’s plans for a turnaround. In the letter Ofsted said that leaders and managers were taking effective actions towards the removal of the serious weaknesses designation and had an improvement plan and statement of action that was fit for purpose.