Children at Benedict Primary School are not prepared for the next stage of their education beyond the school, government inspectors have found.

The school in Church Road, Mitcham, has been rated ‘Inadequate’ by Ofsted and has now been placed in special measures.

There are 290 pupils at the academy school which opened as an academy in 2014 as part of the Chapel Street Community Schools Trust.

At the last inspection in November 2016, the school was graded ‘Requires Improvement’.

The school was visited by inspectors in March and a report which found the school to be ‘inadequate’ overall was published last month.

Inspectors rate the school’s performance in five categories, two of these were deemed ‘Good’ the rest ‘Inadequate’.

The report states that outcomes for children are poor with standards in some year groups even declining.

While the report does say that headteacher Christine Smith is ambitious for the school, it states that there is not a strong leadership team in place to support this.

SEND children are not supported enough

It also found that children with special educational needs and disability (SEND) were not given enough support to make progress.

And some children were identified as needing SEND support but in reality the teaching was just not good enough to help them progress.

Damningly the report states that SEND pupils are given activities in lessons which do not meet their needs or help them progress.

The report adds: “Some of the activities seen during the inspection were designed to keep pupils with SEND busy, rather than meet their learning needs.”

It wasn’t all bad

Despite the school’s shortcomings the school was rated ‘Good’ in two categories, early years provision and personal development, behaviour and welfare.

Inspectors found that children had a positive attitude to school and tried their best even when teaching does not meet their needs.

And Ziggy the school dog gets a special mention as being a ‘wonderful member of the school community; and supporting the wellbeing of children and staff.

The report adds that children feel safe and happy at the school and behave well.

The inspection found that in the nursery three and four-year-olds progress well thanks to good teaching and assessment.

What does the school have to say?

A spokesman for the school states staff are pleased with the positives that Ofsted found at the school including good behaviour of children and good safeguarding practices.

And that work to improve maths was recognised with Benedict being in the top 15% in the country for progress in the subject.

The statement adds: “However, there is more work to do across the school to improve outcomes and progress in reading and writing. I am sure you will recognise this in the expectations we have already put in place in reading and writing for your children.

“We do not believe that the report accurately reflects the progress and learning across Key Stage 1 and 2 for our different groups of children.

“The children were praised for their confidence and how well they spoke and engaged with inspectors. We aim to work harder at translating this into their work and enabling all children to show great progress.”

The full report can be read at www.ofsted.gov.uk