Ofsted makes unannounced visit to Milton Keynes school after “stabbing” incident

The snap inspection on Tuesday and Wednesday this week (January 28 and 29) follows complaints from parents at Stantonbury International School which have been passed on to Ofsted by Milton Keynes Council, a meeting heard last night.

An Ofsted spokesman said: “We can confirm that we have carried out a full inspection of this school, which means that there will be a single judgement. We will say more about it when we publish the inspection report, which is likely to be within 30 working days.”

The issue of child safeguarding at Stantonbury International School was raised at a meeting of the MK Council children and young people scrutiny committee.

They were responding to an incident at the school on January 21, when a boy received “puncture wounds” to his back. The school said it was not a knife incident.Cllr Terry Baines (Cons, Campbell Park and Old Woughton) has two teenage children studying at the school and said he is worried about safeguarding issues there.

He said: “Unchecked bullying has been going on at the school which has not sorted the issue out. The school also does not communicate with parents, and has two chief executives, not one.”

Stantonbury is an academy school run independently of the council by the Griffin Schools Trust. The trust has 13 schools in its “family” across the south east and midlands of England.

During an Ofsted inspection on November 14 and 15, 2018, the school, in Purbeck, was judged as requiring improvement. This included in the behaviour of pupils.

The 2018 report said: “A minority of parents and pupils raised concerns about bullying at the school. Inspectors observed a range of anti-bullying tutorials that the majority of pupils take seriously.

“School information indicates that leaders take incidents of bullying seriously, but the sustained impact of their work is not yet clear.”

Mac Heath, the council’s director of children’s services, told the meeting that council officers have met with school leaders.

He said: “A number of concerns were being raised around children. Ofsted have been made aware that parents’ concerns were getting louder.”

He said the trust had been welcoming and they had held open discussions.

After the meeting the Local Democracy Reporting Service asked the Griffin Schools Trust: Can parents and pupils be reassured that Stantonbury International School is a safe place for their children?

A spokesman for the trust said: “Parents and students can be reassured that Stantonbury International School is a safe place for children. The school has appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures in place which are followed. These have been shared with Milton Keynes Council.

“The most recent inspection has offered useful advice for further improvements and the school’s action on these can be viewed on its website.”