Medway’s only free school, which looks after some of the Towns most vulnerable children, has been placed in special measures.

Inspire Free School has been rated inadequate in all areas after a damning inspection by the education watchdog.

Oftsed had very little good to say about the Chatham school, which teaches pupils aged 11 to 18 with social, emotional and mental health needs.

Inspectors criticised the leadership, teaching and pupils’ attitudes. They found the curriculum to be inadequate, with pupils not being challenged enough. Pupils are underachieving and standards are too low, particularly in reading and writing because the school does not have a specialist English teacher.

During the visit in January, inspectors observed poor attitudes to learning among pupils, low attendances and a high number of exclusions.

According to the report, the school has not had any external support.

"There was insufficient capacity to tackle them and no support" - inspector Matthew Barnes

Lead inspector Matthew Barnes said: “This lack has proved a key element in the school’s declining effectiveness, following an initial period of improvement. The school’s vulnerability, caused by staff absence and unfilled roles, was not recognised quickly enough.

“Consequently, when weaknesses became apparent, there was insufficient capacity to tackle them and no support.”

He concludes: “This school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school.”

The school, which was established in September 2014 after its predecessor, The Oaks, was judged to have serious weaknesses, has now been taken over by the Parallel Learning Trust.

From Friday, it changed its name to Inspire Academy and launched a new website and logo.

In a letter to parents Richard Leonard, chief executive of the trust, said: “We will be working hard with the principal and staff at Inspire to raise standards and to ensure that the focus is on teaching and learning.

“We are looking forward to making the difference to each student at Inspire and the partnership with parents and carers is very important to us.”

The school will be introducing a new uniform, featuring a new logo, which will be provided to pupils for free.