EXCLUSIVE

by Simon Tulett

A school where half of pupils do not speak English as their first language has been told its standards are "exceptionally low" and that it is failing its students.

Falling grades and poor attendance at Chantry Primary School have given it the worst possible mark in a recent Ofsted visit.

Inspectors have plunged the Ordnance Road school into "special measures", criticising its unacceptable standard of education and deeming it incapable of providing the necessary improvements. The verdict is the worst possible scenario for a school apart from closure.

A new acting headteacher, Barbara Scott, has brought some "green shoots of improvement", their report reads, but the pace of learning is not fast enough.

The school's latest published results, where only 36 per cent of pupils reached the required standards in reading, writing and arithmetic, made it one of the worst performing schools in the county.

Poor attendance - about one third of the school's 267 pupils have attendance rates of less than 80 per cent - has had an "extremely negative impact" on learning, the report continues.

Even an attempt to coax children to school with cartoon characters on the playground in the morning has not had the desired impact.

About half the school's pupils are from families of migrants from Eastern European countries, but Simon Webb, Kent County Council's area children's services officer for north Kent, says it is too simple to attribute all the school's failings to its multicultural make-up.

Mr Webb also said had applied to the to set up an interim executive board at the school, having asked the previous governing body to "step aside".

For the full report see this week's Gravesend Messenger.