Safeguarding at a South Downs school ruled 'effective' following welfare concerns

The concerns prompted an Ofsted inspection at Steyning Grammar School in June, but in a report just out it was stated that pupils ‘felt safe’ and behaviour was ‘focused and orderly.’

The findings have delighted headteacher Adam Whitehead who has written to parents saying that the Ofsted report “recognises and celebrates that safeguarding is a well-established priority in the school supported strongly by staff at all levels.

“Very importantly for us, Ofsted recognised that students feel safe and behaviour is focused and orderly with improvements already being made in the few areas where our high standards are not always met.”

The school is part of the Bohunt Education Trust.

In the Ofsted report, published on the school’s website, inspector Chris Ellison said: “We scrutinised the single central record and other documents relating to safeguarding and child protection arrangements.

"We met with the headteacher, senior leaders, groups of pupils and staff as well as representatives of the local governing body and board of trustees.

"We met with the chief executive officer of the trust. We scrutinised documents relating to behaviour, including policies and the school’s logs of behavioural incidents,including bullying.

"We made brief visits to lessons and spoke to pupils at social times. We visited and spoke with pupils on each of the school’s three campuses. We looked at a selection of other documentation, including minutes of governing body meetings and documents from the local authority relevant to the focus of this inspection.”

The report added: “Leaders make sure that safeguarding is a priority in the school. They have put in place strong policies and procedures to help keep children safe.

“All staff are trained well so that they know how to identify concerns. They take their role in safeguarding seriously and pass on any relevant information quickly using the school’s systems.

"Leaders respond effectively to any issues that are raised. They provide support in school, communicate with parents and refer to external agencies whenever needed.”

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The report added: “Pupils feel safe in school because there are lots of staff that they can talk to if they have a problem. Behaviour in lessons is focused and orderly.”