Experts warn of failings at previously outstanding Doncaster school

Hexthorpe Primary School was taken over by the Reach4 Academies Trust on September 1, and due to ‘serious and significant concerns’ raised by the trust, it commissioned an independent inspection report to closely examine all areas of the schools work.

The inspection, carried out for the trust to and mirror an Ofsted report, found the school to be requiring improvement in every area except one - early years provision for which it achieved a good rating.

Libby Nicholas, chief executive of Reach4 said: “It is clear from this disappointing report that Hexthorpe has not been providing a good enough education for quite some time.

“At Reach4 we will simply not accept this level of poor education. Children get one chance with their education and we are determined to fix the problems that are apparent at Hexthorpe.

“That work is now under way, and we are confident that the measures we are putting in place will transform Hexthorpe and deliver on our promise of “inspiration beyond measure”.

Hexthorpe Primary School was last inspected by Ofsted in October 2010, when it was rated outstanding.

Government guidelines state that outstanding schools do not need to be inspected as often as other schools, and will not be formally visited by Ofsted for at least three years after their last inspection.

The take-over of the school by the Reach4 trust and subsequent inspection come after the Free Press revealed that 75 children had been removed from the school by parents in the nine months running up to May this year.