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Gloucestershire Business News

Gloucestershire school receives damning Ofsted report

Wynstones Steiner Waldorf private school on the outskirts of Gloucester has received a damning Ofsted report.

The Ofsted Boarding Inspection report deemed the Whaddon school's boarding provision inadequate for its lack of safeguarding of pupils, using restraints on children and poor record keeping - leading to concerns over how those children who stay over are kept safe.

The school, which charges fees between £6,700 and £9,800 a year, has been educating pupils from pre-school through to university entrance for nearly 80 years and provides an alternative to standard mainstream education.

Most recent inspections of the school itself included an Ofsted for its teaching provision in 2016 and a schools' inspection service report in 2017 - both of which rated it as "good".

School spokeswoman Anita Syvret said "The Staff and Trustees of Wynstones School take the recent Ofsted Boarding Inspection report very seriously.

"We welcome the recommendations which the inspectors have made for improvement and are working with Ofsted to make root and branch improvements which will restore the school's boarding provision to the 'good' status recorded in 2016.

"Since the three-day inspection in November 2018, the staff and trustees have worked diligently to draw up a detailed action plan and embarked immediately on work to address every area of concern thoroughly and intelligently. The Action plan has recently been submitted to the Department for Education."

The key points that arose from the report were that the 'safeguarding culture in the school was weak and leaders and managers had failed to ensure effective management of safeguarding matters'.

There were assurances from the school that no restraining of pupils had occurred, but inspectors said that on two occasions untrained staff had restrained children.

In relation to its boarders the school was also criticised for its lack of record keeping and inability to hold leaders and managers to account.

All of these failures meant there was an increased risks to the children educated there, the report said. An action plan has been drawn up and submitted to the Department for Education to address all the areas of concern.

The school was praised in some areas.

The report said inspectors were told children were provided with a good quality accommodation and boarders had talked positively, telling inspectors they felt they were at a "good school".

But the report said the school did not meet national minimum standards for boarding schools and immediate action was required in order to comply with these standards.

Among actions the school has to allocate include an individual being named as a point of contact for boarders to discuss any personal problems as well as providing appropriate helpline numbers.

The school has, and implements effectively, appropriate policies for the care of boarders who are unwell and ensures that the physical and mental health and emotional well-being of boarders is promoted, said the report.

The school ensures that the welfare of pupils at the school is safeguarded and promoted.

The school ensures that: arrangements are made to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils at the school.

The school has already begun improvements in line with the recommendations and submitted a detailed action plan to the Department of Education.

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