An Ofsted report has described a formerly 'outstanding' grammar school as a place where racism, homophobia, and misogyny have flourished. The school, in Lancashire, has been downgraded to 'inadequate' by the inspector as incidents such as 'harmful sexual behaviour went unchallenged’ and said some pupils had ‘lost confidence’ in the ability of staff to protect them from harm.
Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School in Rossendale was inspected in June with the scathing report published this week. One parent speaking to LancsLive after the publication of the report described the school as an "exam factory" where pupils regularly achieved exemplary results, but officials failed to address their needs in return.
A number of parents and carers had expressed their concerns regarding 'children safety and wellbeing' while at school, the report said, and some students felt there was no one they could speak to at the school to address this. This is despite the selective, mixed, grammar school being rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted just six years ago.
