Redditch school St Stephen’s CofE First School, rated Inadequate, to challenge Ofsted in the High Courts

St Stephen’s CofE First School, which was inspected in October last year, has been marked Inadequate for its overall effectiveness.

In a statement the school, previously rated Good, said that it was unhappy with the watchdog for publishing the report despite the school raising "a number of concerns" both with the inspection and marks.

It fails to say what the concerns are.

The school will now apply for a judicial review looking into the Ofsted complaints procedure.

The damning report, published last week, says that provision in the early years is inadequate, teaching is ineffective, and staff do not accurately assess what children can do to plan learning activities to meet their needs.

It says activities do not motivate children or stimulate their learning and their progress is therefore very limited.

The report states that teachers do not consistently plan the right work for pupils and that some teachers do not ensure that pupils produce their best work.

Leaders do not check on the quality of teaching and learning and pupils’ progress with sufficient care.

It does, however, mention some strengths such as leaders have taken some effective action to stem the decline in the school’s performance in key stages 1 and 2 and pupils say they are happy and safe in school.

The school has refused to comment but said it will call a meeting of all the parents to explain the position in more detail.

A statement released by the school says: “We regret that Ofsted has published their report despite our raising a number of concerns with them over the inspection and consequently the grades awarded.

"Their current complaints procedure, which was ruled unlawful by the High Court in August 2017, has not in our view allowed these concerns to be taken into account. In light of this, the school has been granted permission by the High Court to apply for judicial review of this aspect.

"Until the outcome is clear we will not be commenting further on the contents of the Ofsted report but we will call a meeting of parents to explain the position in more detail together with the actions we are taking.

"As always, we will continue to provide a high standard of education, within our caring and nurturing environment. This practice has resulted in good pupil progress and key stage 1 outcomes close to or above the national average in the last academic year.”