A government-led agency responsible for monitoring and disciplining teachers has found the leadership team at a school at the centre of controversy over its discipline techniques did not act with any malicious intent.

Four senior staff at Brompton-Westbook Primary School in Gillingham have been embroiled in the furore since last year after a whistle-blower and some parents said children were being locked in a cupboard-like room at the school.

Investigators have now acknowledged the school’s actions were in response to a Medway Council edict to reduce pupil exclusions.

The school, in Kings Bastion, has just been rated as “good” by Ofsted inspectors, who found consistently good and sometimes outstanding teaching at the school.

The report also praised the leadership team for establishing a culture of high expectation for pupils and teachers.

Parents Rod and Ruth Mills, Alison Lovett and Patricia Wilkins said their children were locked in an isolation room at the school and the matter was reported to police.

The police review found there was not enough evidence for a criminal investigation.

"The panel could not find any substantiated evidence to indicate that there was any malicious intent to cause deliberate harm to children at the academy..." - NCTL

The safeguarding issues were also reported to the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL), an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Education, which carried out its own investigation into the four teachers concerned.

A panel found executive head teacher Jane Heyes, acting head teacher Sue Mason, special needs coordinator Karen Price and assistant head teacher Jon Carthy had not acted with any malicious intent to cause any deliberate harm to children at the school.

The four teachers faced criticism after the investigation by Medway Council concluded there was a case of gross misconduct to be answered for all four staff, who should be subject to a disciplinary hearing.

But the authority could not take any action when the school became an academy in October last year.

A new inquiry launched by the trustees found they had full confidence in staff and no further action would be taken against them, although the room was subsequently removed.

A letter from the NCTL leaked to KentOnline's sister paper the Medway Messenger said: “A panel took into account the two investigation reports, one produced by Medway Council and the other by ASB Law, on behalf of the trustees of the academy.

"These two reports came to different conflicting conclusions with the former being critical of issues with the isolation room and the latter being supportive of the actions implemented by the school.

“The panel noted that the school had acted in response to a drive from Medway Council to reduce permanent and fixed term exclusions from mainstream school by dealing with challenging behaviour internally.

“It was relevant to the panel that the school had taken advice from relevant agencies and specialists in the construction of the (isolation) area and that no issues were identified or raised by any safeguarding agencies about its operation.”

The letter also states the panel took into account that a number of parents had reported that the use of the isolation room was excessive and inappropriate.

"It adds: “However, the panel could not find any substantiated evidence to indicate that there was any malicious intent to cause deliberate harm to children at the academy.

“Taking all the factors in to account the panel decided that there was not a realistic prospect of a professional conduct panel imposing a prohibition order and closed the case with no further action.”