Third Littlehampton school failed by Ofsted

Flora McDonald Junior School has joined St Catherine's Catholic Primary and Wickbourne Infant schools in being placed into special measures by the inspection body, although Wickbourne has since been taken out of that "intensive care" category after significant improvements.

County council cabinet member responsible for education, Mark Dunn, admitted Littlehampton's record of three failing schools in as many years was "disgraceful". He added: "I was hugely embarrassed."

Mr Dunn said he and many of his senior officers had been "taken aback" by Flora McDonald's Ofsted report.

"We have huge confidence in the head. Our perception was that the school was getting better. We are not short of giving support. We are going to be giving quite significant financial support to the primary sector in that catchment area.

"I have no other priorities that are greater."

However, Littlehampton's MP Nick Gibb, and leading Labour Arun and town councillor Mike Northeast, who has a son at Flora McDonald, both feel more should be done to support schools in one of the most deprived areas of West Sussex.

Mr Northeast accused the education authority of delaying extra support when the school was already showing signs of needing it.

"The school realised there was a problem and started to address it with an action plan. The county council was very aware of that. Why didn't they step in straight away and give the school the support that it needed?

"County would have known six to nine months ago when the SATS results came out that something was wrong. That is a long time, almost a year out of a child's education.

"The county council has to be more pro-active and take action when it is needed, not wait until the wheels come off."

Mr Gibb, the Conservatives' shadow schools minister, said the three Littlehampton schools with poor Ofsted reports were "a matter of great concern".

He called on the county education authority to focus more on under-achieving schools and, in the case of Flora McDonald, urged education officials to talk with Ofsted inspectors to discuss the details of their concerns.

"They need to do that urgently. For every year that goes by with a school underperforming, they are letting down the one opportunity for children to have a decent education.

Children not reaching level 4 in reading at primary school never recover at secondary school and don't do well in their GCSEs. If affects their whole lives."

Mr Gibb said he would be discussing the Littlehampton Ofsted reports with Robert Back, the county council's director of children and young people's services, the next time they met.

Flora McDonald's head teacher Dave Vickers said: "Issues raised by the inspectors are already priorities in school improvement planning and a number of strategies have been put into place in liaison with local education authority consultants.

"We were disappointed overall with the level of achievement in English and mathematics last year but we were very pleased to see a doubling of the number of pupils achieving level 5 in mathematics. We are also proud of the results in science over the last few years which have seen a steady improvement matching those made nationally."

The school's chairman of governors, Val Jerram, said: "We are obviously disappointed with the outcome of the inspection. As a governing body we have worked hard over the last two years, with the head teacher, to build a strong structure that is now enabling us to plan strategically.

"We are committed to continue working with the local authority to raise standards in English and mathematics, to ensure that all pupils in the school make the best possible progress."