The principal of Castle Community College has addressed parents’ concerns after a wave of criticism.

In the past week the school, which is in special measures and has sites in Mill Road and Salisbury Road, has come under fire from parents over unfinished and unclear timetables, missing ICT results, cancellation of courses and uniform issues.

Interim principal Jane Hadlow, who has replaced Philip Bunn, said: “Where parents have concerns they are encouraged to contact the school in the first instance.

“The school shares information with parents on a fortnightly basis via the newsletter bulletin and parents are always welcome to attend the regular Parents Forum meetings.”

Parents have voiced their disbelief in children being sent home for wearing the wrong uniform however, the school has hit back saying it is keen to maintain traditional values, including a strict uniform policy.

She said: “Since April 22, very clear guidelines and expectations have been given to students and parents about correct uniform.

“In compliance with government policy on making school uniform easily accessible to parents, guidance has been given, including diagrams and invitations to come into school to see samples of acceptable uniform items.

“Parents can contact us at any time for clarification around uniform issues. A feature of ‘Good’ and ‘Outstanding’ schools is the wearing of the correct school uniform.”

Another concern by parents centred around timetables. One set of parents contacted the Mercury saying they have removed their son from the school after a series of failures. The last straw being the state of his timetable.

Parent Derek Hughes said: “My son’s timetable is a clear demonstration of how disorganised and unprofessional the team are.

“They have had all summer to organise timetables and assess the needs of the various children. He was given a scribbled timetable created ad hoc by a head of year during induction week.”

Mrs Hadlow said: “All students’ timetables at KS3 and KS4 were completed and published on Thursday, September 4. Sixth Form timetables, especially Year 12 timetables, can and do take longer to embed.

“Personalised and bespoke programmes are being finalised for individual students. Completion of programmes of study can only happen once we have the exam results in August. When the school re-opens students, ideally with the involvement of parents, meet with staff to discuss the most appropriate programme of study.

“We cannot comment on individual cases and we encourage parents to contact the school in the spirit of partnership.”

Mrs Hadlow said: “The school has set and is proud of our traditional values, which are now being implemented consistently.”

Your concerns addressed:

Full-Time Courses: “The school can confirm that the teaching time for all full-time courses meet statutory requirements.”

Placement of students on courses of study: “Students are placed on appropriate programme of study, after interview and discussion. Some courses have entry requirements and a student’s exam results are needed before placement.”

Teachers openly smoking in the presence of students: “This is a ‘No Smoking School’ in compliance with Kent County Council Policies.”

ICT Results: “The school has still not received the ICT results for the GCSE & OCR courses. They will be released to students as soon as the school receives them.”

Cancellation of Sixth Form Logistics course: “All KS5 courses are subject to demand and unfortunately, where there is very low uptake by students, courses cannot be delivered.”

Options: “All Year 9 students were issued with confirmation of their options before the end of the last academic year in July.”