A Bristol school has received its fourth 'inadequate' Ofsted rating in six years with inspectors describing it as being "in disarray". It was the last ever inspection for Andalusia Academy in St Philips, as the school had already announced it would be closing its primary provision today (December 16) due to financial difficulties.
It had already closed its secondary provision in summer and said Ofsted's latest surprise inspection came just two days after it had already made the decision to shut down the rest of the school. The independent school, run by Bristol Islamic Schools Trust (BIST), has been offering full-time education since 2005 and is the city's only Islamic faith school.
However since criticism from Ofsted in 2016, it has struggled to convince the education watchdog of improvements and earlier this year the Department for Education threatened it with closure. The new report published yesterday (December 15), based on an inspection in November, read: "Many aspects of the school’s work are in disarray...The proprietor has been unable to resolve the deep-rooted failures that pervade the school.
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"Leadership practices are dysfunctional. The school is in financial crisis. It now depends on additional donations to stay open. There have been constant changes in leadership."
According to the report, the secondary phase of the school closed in July 2022 and at the time of inspection, there were 74 pupils on roll aged five-11 with annual fees charged at £3,500. Back in 2013, when the school was rated 'good', Ofsted's records show that there were 275 pupils on roll.
Ofsted's report continued: "The number of pupils on roll has decreased markedly in recent months. This is in part due to the secondary phase of the school closing in July 2022. However, pupils’ stability rates are low. Fourteen primary-age pupils have left the school since September 2022."
Inspectors identified gaps in the curriculum and safeguarding, although they did note positives including that any bullying was swiftly dealt with and pupils had respectful attitudes. However, the assessment categories of 'quality of education' and 'leadership and management' were both rated inadequate.
The areas 'behaviour and attitudes' and 'personal development' were rated 'requires improvement', but this was not enough to change the overall rating of inadequate. Ofsted said the school was also not meeting independent school standards.
School's response
In a statement released on behalf of the school and Bristol Islamic Schools Trust, a spokesperson said: "In recent years the school has experienced financial difficulties with trustees evaluating the school’s future on a number of occasions. Regrettably, on November 6, trustees took the decision to close the primary school at the end of term on December 16.
"This decision was made before Ofsted started their un-announced visit on November 8. At the beginning of the inspection the trustees made the inspectors aware of this decision to close the school due to financial reasons, but the inspectors decided to continue with the visit.
"The school has been struggling financially for the past few years. The trustees were aware of what needs to be done to improve the standards of the school, but the lack of finances made it difficult to achieve this.
"The trustees would like to thank the community of Bristol, and those beyond, past and present who have supported the school over the years and wish our parents, staff and pupils every success in the future." It is understood following the school's closure once term ends today, the premises will be used part-time as a tuition centre by different groups.
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