Special educational needs school put in special measures after failing to 'stem the decline'

A special educational needs school in Tameside has been put in special measures after failing to ‘stem the decline in education’.

Following an inspection from Ofsted, Thomas Ashton School in Hyde has dropped from a ‘Good’ rating to ‘Inadequate’. The school curriculum, student attendance rates and poor behaviour are the key issues highlighted by the education watchdog during their inspection back in November.

The Ofsted report, published at the end of December, stated that students do not receive appropriate education that meets their special educational needs and do not learn what they should in many subjects.

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Inspectors did say that safeguarding measures are effective, students are happy at the Bennett Street site and have opportunities to work in the community. Despite pupils doing positive work for a variety of local and national charities in the community, their education is sub-par in the eyes of Ofsted.

“Pupils, all of whom have SEND, experience a poor quality of education,” the Ofsted report read. “This is because the curriculum has not been shaped well enough to take account of their needs.

“The school has not given enough thought to how subjects come together to form a coherent, well-ordered curriculum. The knowledge that pupils should learn and the order in which this should be taught have not been identified.”

The report went on to criticise the lack of emphasis on reading and described a “negative attitude” towards books among pupils. As a result of this and a lack of staff understanding in teaching phonics, pupils at the school struggle to read, the report said.

In addition to this, poor pupil behaviour and