An intensive recovery plan has been set into motion today to help a crisis-hit school get back on track.

As The Evening Telegraph revealed yesterday (12 June), the Government's school watchdog put St John RC Fisher into special measures after it was dubbed inadequate.

The overhaul includes seeking to have the governing body disbanded and reversing low levels of attainment.

Ofsted inspectors, who spent two days at the school in Reeves Way, Eastfield, in April, judged that it was failing its pupils by not giving them an acceptable standard of education.

Black marks were given for leadership and management, achievement and standards, teaching and learning, curriculum and other activities and care, guidance and support were all deemed inadequate.

Download the St John Fisher Ofsted report as a PDF

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Out of a total of 26 categories, 19 were marked at level 4 (inadequate), five at level 3 (satisfactory) and two at 2 (good).

Only the sixth form, which was inspected separately, fared well with 11 out of 12 categories scoring level 2 and 1 marked level 3.

The city council has now launched a 14-day consultation with governors and other key stakeholders of the school.

They will then seek the consent of the Secretary of State for Education to disband the governing body of St John Fisher School and replace it with an interim executive board.

The city council's interim director of children's services Ben Ticehurst said: "We are very saddened by the findings of this report which confirm many of the serious concerns we have had about the school for some time.

"We have been working closely with the school, police and the diocese and will continue to do so to ensure all the pupils at St John Fisher receive a good standard of education and are given the opportunity to reach their full potential.

"Ofsted has now made their judgement and we have considered the action that we can take."

Mr Ticehurst said the school would now be run by an Interim Executive Board (IEB), who will control the school's budget and make any executive decisions needed.

He said they will run the school for a year and after six months, with a set of shadow governors drafted in to work with them for the second half of the year to ensure a smooth handover.

He said: "The city council has now written to all of the present governors, to make them aware of the situation, allowing them until June 23 to respond, when we will then write to the Secretary of State, in the hope they will make a decision very quickly so we can get the new IEB set up and begin driving the improvements."

Mr Ticehurst said they had already installed a police presence at the school following the first warning, and it is now an every day part of the way the school is run.

He added: "We continue to be concerned about the way the school is run which is why we think it is necessary to set up the IEB."

Parish priest Father David Jennings said people shouldn't rush to slate the school until they had read the full report. Continues on next page

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Timeline

• In February 27, Peterborough City Council issued a formal notice under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 to the school.


• It followed concerns about Polish pupils being bullied, standards declining and turnover of newly qualified teachers.


• The 15-day notice asked the governing body to respond to the concerns and asked them to take steps including allowing a police officer to liaise with the youngsters.


• The school appealed to Ofsted.


• But the schools inspectorate turned it down saying the city council had sufficient evidence to back its case.


• Ofsted inspectors then visited the school and carried out a two- day inspection which concluded the school required special measures.

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