Private school slammed by Ofsted as staff deliver 'poor lessons' and pupil safety 'left too much to chance'

A school in Wigan has been slammed by Ofsted inspectors over concerns about pupils' safety and staff delivering ‘poor lessons outside their expertise’. The damning report published by the moderator on October 4, 2022 stated the students' learning at the Lilford Centre, one of two independent Progress Schools in the borough, is ‘hampered by a poorly delivered curriculum across many subjects’.

The Tyldesley-based school, which was rated as 'inadequate', has students referred to them by the local authority who have previously disengaged with education due to non-attendance or behavioural issues. This is something Ofsted believes is not being done adequately.

The school, which only opened in 2020, had 30 pupils on the roll when inspectors came knocking back in July and found they had ‘failed to meet the independent school standards’.

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Many teachers are delivering lessons with ‘poor content’ that is ‘outside of their areas of expertise’, the inspector claims. It is described as being rarely suitably demanding with teachers ‘focused on asking pupils to complete simple activities’.

The report stated safeguarding measures are not effective, with safety being left ‘too much to chance’, despite the pupils telling the inspector they trust staff to keep them safe. Leaders’ periodic checks and calls to home only provide ‘temporary assurances about pupils’ location and safety’, it was claimed.

“Under these current practices, leaders cannot reasonably assure themselves that these pupils are safe,” the report said. “This means that leaders are not fulfilling some of the requirements of part 3 of the standards.

“In much of their work,