Leaders at a school that for years was considered the best in Bristol have apologised again after an Ofsted inspector said they were still not doing enough to address its ‘serious weaknesses’. The leadership team at Montpelier High School has been told by Ofsted inspectors it remains inadequate and continues to have ‘serious weaknesses’, with the school having made ‘insufficient progress’ to improve things.
Parents at the girls’ school, which is run by the Venturers’ Trust, have been told Ofsted inspectors and Bristol City Council’s own safeguarding team have been back inspecting the school in the months following last year’s shock Ofsted inspection which found the school to be inadequate. The girls’ school is run by the Venturers Trust - which is sponsored by the Society of Merchant Venturers and the University of Bristol.
Throughout the 2010s, after it switched from a fee-paying girls’ school to a state-funded academy, it had been considered the best school in Bristol for years, thanks to its reputation, its status as the most over-subscribed school in the city and an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted inspection some 12 years ago.
Read next: Montpelier High School - the 'best school in Bristol' - gets worst Ofsted rating
The school has had a controversial time since around 2017 and 2018. The executive principal at the time, Alistair Perry, was convicted and initially jailed for a child sex offence. His successor John Whitehead attempted to discuss changing its name from Colston's Girls' School, but was denied permission by the Merchant Venturers in charge of the school. After the Colston statue was toppled in 2020, after Mr Whitehead he'd left the school, and told Bristol Live he believed the Society of Merchant Venturers were 'not fit' to be in charge of education in the city. The school, under a new principal, did eventually announce in November 2020, it would change its name to Montpelier High School.
Because of that outstanding inspection result back in 2010, Ofsted inspectors did not return until March 2022, and then found the school had serious failings in a number of areas, especially around the children feeling safe and able to go to staff with safeguarding issues.
In an Ofsted inspection report eventually released in June, the school was judged to have ‘serious weaknesses’, and that was followed in July by a warning from the Department of Education that they could terminate the state funding for the Venturers' Trust to run Montpelier High School.
Ofsted inspectors said they would return to check the school was addressing those serious weaknesses and they did on December 6. Now their report has been shared by the school leadership team - and the Ofsted inspectors found there were still serious issues.
“Montpelier High School remains inadequate and has serious weaknesses,” lead Ofsted inspector Susan Aykin said this week. “Leaders have made insufficient progress to improve the school.” Ms Aykin outlined the measures taken by the school, including the appointment of a new interim principal and a new chair of governors, but ruled that not enough had been done.
“Leaders have also made changes to the ways in which they record information about pupils they know are at risk of harm,” said Ms Aykin. “However, there is a lack of analysis of incidents or concerns to check follow-up procedures are appropriate and keeping pupils safe. In addition, during this inspection, I identified examples of where known concerns about pupils had not been accurately recorded in line with the school’s policy. Crucially, many pupils report that they do not have a trusted adult with whom they could share their concerns. Furthermore, many pupils say that they find it difficult to disclose worries about their mental health. Many pupils state that they struggle with this aspect of their well-being and do not receive the support they request. Pupils also spoke of the prevalence of self-harm.
“Therefore, leaders’ actions have not been sufficient to make pupils feel secure enough to tell staff of their concerns. The evidence from this inspection continues to raise serious concerns about the school’s safeguarding arrangements,” she added.
The inspector’s report does outline that some progress has been made, but that has flagged newly-found issues, particularly around pupils with special needs.
“Leaders have reduced incidents of bullying. Most pupils report that bullying is not a significant issue at the school,” she wrote. “Leaders have revised how they establish an overview of incidents, so that they can identify patterns of behaviour more sharply. Leaders have, as a result, identified that there is a disproportionate number of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and pupils in receipt of pupil premium funding who are removed from lessons to manage their behaviour. Leaders have begun to address the issues that underpin these behavioural concerns. However, it is early days,” she added.
The most recent Ofsted inspection found the school was not equipping its pupils to deal with the outside world.
“Leaders outline a vision for the success of all pupils at the school. Their focus is to prioritise the quality of welfare, alongside the quality of education. However, their plans to ensure equity of support for pupils’ academic, social and emotional well-being are still in their infancy,” the inspector wrote. “Overwhelmingly, pupils state that the personal, social and health education (PSHE) curriculum is ineffective in helping them to prepare for the world beyond school. They state that it does not support them to know how to manage their well-being,” she added.
Because of the concerns about safeguarding, Bristol City Council’s education team have got involved. What was described by the school as an ‘intensive two-day safeguarding review’ was undertaken by the council’s safeguarding experts earlier this month. The school said this concluded that Montpelier High does have ‘effective safeguarding systems and practice to promote the safety and welfare of learners’.
Tracey Killen, the new chair of governors, apologised to parents for the school not sorting its issues out more quickly.
“Following Ofsted’s finding that MHS remains inadequate, we apologise wholeheartedly to our school community for not mobilising change fast enough. The effective safeguarding of students remains our top priority and we are committed to making sure that all our students always feel safe and supported in school,” she said.
“Immediate actions to improve our safeguarding processes began following the full Ofsted inspection in March. Progress accelerated following an operational and leadership restructure in November; however, the Ofsted monitoring visit in December described improvements as still in their infancy.
“With feedback from the Inspector, new leaders were able to successfully embed these improvements without further delay and the positive impact was evident across the school,” she added.
Read more:
- Montpelier High School - the 'best school in Bristol' - gets worst Ofsted rating
- New name for Colston's Girls' School in Bristol is revealed
- Society of Merchant Venturers 'not fit' to run Bristol schools says former headteacher
- Department of Education threatens to withdraw funding from Bristol school after Ofsted rating
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