School dinners not fit to eat

The Collective Spirit School

PUPILS at a failing free school have been going hungry because the lunches it provides are so poor.

In an extraordinary admission, students at Collective Spirit told Ofsted inspector Jonathan Jones that they are not allowed take in their own lunches. Instead, they must have one provided by the Chadderton secondary.

Mr Jones said: "The lunches provided are of such poor quality that pupils often throw their lunch away or miss it. This means they go to their afternoon lessons hungry which adds to a lack of concentration and misbehaviour occurs."

The comments are made in the Butterworth Lane secondary's first monitoring inspection since it was judged to be failing to give pupils an acceptable standard of education, and placed in special measures.

Quality
That original inspection in May said the quality of teaching was inadequate, with too many lessons taught by temporary teachers, the curriculum did not meet pupils' needs and the school did not even have a library or age-appropriate books in classrooms.

Pupils' behaviour was also inadequate, they did not feel safe from bullying and fighting, and absences and exclusions were described as too high in what Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon slammed as one of the most damming inspection reports he had seen

Mr Jones, who visited the school last month (Nov) to check its progress, found that the school was not taking effective action to come out of special measures and that its action plan was not fit for purpose.

His report says: "Leaders now understand what needs to be done for the school to come out of special measures. However, the pace at which improvements have been made is far too slow."

It adds: "The school's action plan is too unwieldy. It reads like a 'to-do' list and is lacking in clarity and focus.

"The plan is too far removed from the areas of improvement identified during the inspection that took place in May".

However, the school is praised pockets of good teaching and and the "phenomenal" amount of provision it has put in place in a short time for for pupils with special educational needs.

Collective Spirit opened in September 2013 amidst fierce opposition form Oldham Council

It has recently appointed a new governing body but interim principal Mark McLoughlin, brought in following the long-term sickness of the permanent principal, has left since the monitoring inspection.

Marie Garside, former head of the acclaimed Marie St Ambrose Barlow RC High in Swinton, will become executive principal after Christmas. She was awarded the CBE in 2014.

The school did not respond to a request for a comment but acting principal Peter Ramsay says in a letter to parents: "Following November's visit, Mr McLoughlin made the decision that now was a good time to step aside in place of someone who was able commit to a longer period in charge, seeing the school through to summer 2018 when the current Year 10 pupils will sit their GCSE exams.

A team of national experts is also working with the school and Mr Ramsay adds: "With this team in place we can now increase the urgency and pace at which improvements are being made."