PYRLAND School in Taunton has been rated as ‘inadequate’ across the board following a recent Ofsted inspection.
The school, formerly Taunton Academy, was visited by inspectors in January – just weeks after the sudden departure of the head teacher.
The circumstances of the Ofsted visit prompted the school to complain to the education watchdog, claiming the inspection could have an adverse effect on staff, and that it would not give a true impression of progress made.
Previously, Taunton Academy had been rated as ‘requires improvement’ – so the new report shows inspectors think the school has gone backwards.
The damning report, released today (April 29), said Pyrland School – which has almost 1,000 pupils on roll – “does not provide an acceptable standard of education for pupils”.
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“The curriculum is not ambitious about what pupils should know and do,” it went on. “While the school has begun to make some improvements to the curriculum, this work has been slow and has had little positive impact on pupils’ achievement.
“Staff do not have high-enough expectations of pupils. As a result, pupils lack the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in qualifications or their next phase of education.
“Pupils behave poorly in classrooms and around the school site. Truancy from lessons and poor punctuality to lessons frequently disrupt learning. The behaviour system is unclear.
“Consequently, some staff are not sure how to manage pupils’ behaviour effectively and some pupils are openly defiant towards adults.
“High numbers of pupils receive sanctions for poor behaviour. These pupils then do not receive the support they need to learn from incidents, so poor behaviour is repeated.”
It also highlighted how “bullying is common” and that “pupils have stopped reporting incidents to adults as they lack confidence in the school’s ability to help resolve concerns”.
“This makes some pupils feel unsafe,” the report added.
In addition, the report also highlights how pupils “lack understanding about protected characteristics”.
“This means that pupils do not know that racist and misogynistic comments should not be tolerated,” it went on.
“Therefore, pupils are not well prepared for life in modern Britain.”
Pyrland School in Taunton
Despite that, inspectors did note how the “personal development programme teaches pupils about healthy relationship in an age-appropriate way”.
“The school provides pupils with information about careers and future post-16 options,” it went on.
Pyrland School is part of the Richard Huish Trust, which is working with the Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership (MNSP) on improvement plans.
They include the appointment of new executive head teacher, Mark Lawrence, currently head of Bucklers Mead Academy in Yeovil, who will oversee both schools.
Earlier this week, the school hit out at Ofsted over the inspection, raising “concerns about the conduct of Ofsted inspectors and the integrity of the process”.
However, Ofsted told your Leveller it does not comment on individual schools beyond what is included in reports.
A Pyrland School spokesperson said: “While the school acknowledges there is still some way to go on the journey at Pyrland and we have already started to respond to Ofsted’s feedback, there is particular disappointment that the inspectors failed to recognise progress made since the pandemic.
“We are disappointed at a suggestion in the report that the school has gone backwards since its most recent inspections.
“It does not recognise the hard work and extra staff support which has brought real progress here.”
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