Schools in Portsmouth and Hampshire: Brune Park Community School receives inadequate Ofsted rating with inspection finding children feel unsafe - leaders promise to improve

Brune Park Community School, located in Gosport, has received an inadequate Oftsed report in its recent inspection which took place on June 6 and 7.

The school is part of the Gosport and Fareham Multi-Academy Trust which is formed of Bay House School and Sixth Form, Gomer Junior School, Rowner Junior School, Gosport STEM Centre and LWS Academy.

The report has outlined that not enough students attend school regularly enough which results in a lack of knowledge obtained and the actions implemented to improve attendance is not effective enough.

The headteacher, Kerry Payne, has already started putting things into place to try and make the necessary improvements to ensure that children feel safe and respected by their peers and the staff members at the school.

The inspection found that: “Many pupils feel unsafe because of unkind and hurtful comments made by their peers. Leaders and staff do not challenge racist, sexist and homophobic comments robustly or swiftly enough.

"The curriculum is broadly ambitious. Most subject leaders acknowledge that they still have work to do to complete their curriculums fully.”

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She said: “We do not hide from this judgement. We accept completely the findings of inspectors and will use this disappointing outcome as a springboard for change at Brune Park.

“First and foremost, we are committed to eradicating bullying of any kind in our school. It is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

“Whilst the report notes that leaders act quickly to ensure that pupils are not at risk of harm, it is clear that as a school we have not yet reached the high standards we expect for our students and the community."

The report said: “Trustees and senior leaders share a strong moral purpose to improve the school. Leaders have made numerous attempts to bring about improvements. Recent changes have begun to offer stability and clarity.

"However, some staff feel that there have been too many ‘re-sets’ to policies and procedures. The frequent changes have had a detrimental effect on staff workload and have led to some staff not following school policies and rules closely enough.”

The safeguarding measures have been found effective and leaders act swiftly to ensure that children are not at risk of any harm.

There have been some changes made to the safeguarding team which has strengthened the process but there are still some instances where the policies are not as consistent as necessary.

Kerry added: “Families will be rightly disappointed by this judgement but I want to assure them that work has already begun to address the concerns raised.

“We have created a robust and rapid action plan to tackle the issues identified by inspectors and this is already having a tangible impact.

“There is a tremendous amount of work left to be done but as leaders and as a school we are fully committed to putting right the issues found in the report.”

To view the Ofsted report, click here.