Lady Lumley's School in North Yorkshire left racism and homophobia to 'go unchallenged', says Ofsted

Lady Lumley’s School in Pickering, North Yorkshire, has been further criticised for “trying to surpress” the inspection’s findings and using more than £100,000 of public funds for children’s education on legal action considered by the most senior judge in civil law.

An Ofsted inspection in October found while the school’s overall effectiveness had dropped from good to inadequate, the quality of education and sixth-form provision was good, but pupils’ behaviour and attitudes and the school’s leadership were inadequate.

The inspection report described "a school of contrasts” in which classrooms were usually calm and behaviour in lessons is usually good, but a large minority of pupils did not feel protected from bullying, others felt the school site was insecure and threatened on school transport.

It added: “Pupils are concerned about the regular use of homophobic and racist language around school. They said that when staff hear such language, it is not always challenged.”

In response, the school launched a lengthy legal challenge, which it took all the way to the Appeal Court in London, where the case was heard by the Chancellor of the High Court.

A joint letter to parents from the school’s headteacher Richard Bramley and chair of governors, Stephen Croft, states Ofsted’s claims over homophobia and racism condemned the “students at Lady Lumley’s School to be classed as racist and homophobic and it condemns the staff to be classed as people who accept such behaviour”.

It added: “It also reflects on the whole community. This is the one of the main reasons we felt we had to challenge this report so strongly.”

The letter stated: “When you read the report, did it sound like the school your son or daughter goes to? Whilst there are a number of positive aspects to the report, we are bitterly disappointed with the overall outcome.”

The school’s leaders said as there is no way to appeal against an Ofsted judgment, the governing body agreed there was “no choice but to resort to the legal system”.

They added: “This has naturally cost a great deal of money, but money that was already in the school budget and the school still remains in a sound financial position.”

After being found to be inadequate, education policy stipulates schools must convert to an academy and be taken over by an academy chain. In the meantime, the school has tackled security and safeguarding concerns by installing locks on doors, introducing a buddy system and bolstering its pastoral care team.

North Yorkshire County councillor for Pickering Greg White said he was saddened to learn the school had been rated as inadequate and would do whatever he could to help Lady Lumley’s “become an excellent school, providing great teaching in an environment where all pupils feel valued and safe”.

He added: “I was also very disappointed to learn that the school had tried to suppress the Ofsted Report by taking very expensive legal action.

"Whilst I can understand the school’s governing body and head teacher wanting to question the inspectors’ findings, in what was a very harsh report, I could not see any justification for spending over £100,000 of public money to challenge Ofsted in the High Court. That money was provided to fund children’s education.

“As soon as I became aware of the likely cost, I called on North Yorkshire County Council’s senior officers to investigate how such expenditure had been authorised, to use their powers to prohibit any further spending on fighting the report’s publication and to consider replacing the governing body with an Interim Executive Board.”

Within hours of the report being published scores of parents, former teachers at the school and Pickering residents said they were not surprised by Ofsted’s findings and branded the legal actions as a “vanity project” by the school’s leaders.

Parent Dave Goodfellow said: “The report is clear the teachers are doing a good job and should be thanked for their work. The leadership team and board of governors have failed at their job.

“This failure is then magnified by spending significant sums on an ego trip. A cover up is never a good look.”

--------------------------------

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor