Dudley school put in special measures after emergency inspection

Priory Primary School, which has 637 pupils on its roll, has been criticised by the education watchdog and rated 'inadequate' in all areas.

Following a complaint, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector ruled that an inspection should take place. The school, which caters for three to 11-year-olds, was visited by inspectors on November 22.

Safeguarding across the whole school has been rated 'ineffective', with concerns raised by inspectors about staff failing to follow advice from Dudley Council's children's safeguarding board when they are alerted to a concern about a pupil.

According to the report, staff said they regularly carried out risk assessments but inspectors found they were not clear about what they check to ensure children are always safe.

Inspectors said: "Reception children picked up two large crates, pushed a child into the middle and refused to let the child free. An adult stood nearby and did nothing."

Youngsters in Reception class were also observed running and intentionally pushing one another in unsupervised areas.

Development in the Reception year was described in the report as below national average.

The report states: "The most able pupils are often provided with easy work. The activities for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities range from being too complex to too simplistic."

Funding for pupils was described by inspectors as 'not spent well'. According to the report, in the last financial year more than £100,000 of additional funding was paid for staff to support disadvantaged pupils but the youngsters had 'not benefitted'.

In 2014 the school was rated 'good' by Ofsted after pulling out of special measures, which it was put in during 2012.

Headteacher Jill Craig said: "Working with the local authority we are putting steps in place to address the findings of the inspectors in particular in relation to record keeping and up to date training around safeguarding and raising levels of progress for all pupils across the school.

"The education of our children is the utmost priority and our work now is to make those recommended changes and move forward."

Councillor Ian Cooper, cabinet member for children's services, said: "We acknowledge the findings of the report and have set about putting right priority areas highlighted in it."