Standards at a £38,000-a-year school for children with special needs have been downgraded to “inadequate” by inspectors.

ISP (Inspired Foster Care) School, which has two sites, one in Teynham and another in Sittingbourne, has 46 pupils aged between seven and 18 with social, emotional, and mental health difficulties.

Ofsted visited from June 27 to 29 and previously gave it a rating of ‘good’ in 2013.

But inspector Diana Choulerton found 18 failings – from arrangements for keeping pupils safe to teaching not being effective or consistent.

She said progress made by children was “too variable” and some could have done better if they had been more stretched.

“The most able pupils, in particular, are not routinely tackling work of high enough challenge,” she said.

The inspector said pupils are not kept safe and welfare is not “sufficiently well provided for and health and safety arrangements are ineffective”.

Her report says: “Staff concerns about pupils are not noted in the safeguarding records unless the concern is then referred to social services.

“Leaders do not consistently review these staff referrals to see if there are any emerging patterns.

“As a result, opportunities to spot potential issues are reduced.”

It adds teaching is not “sufficiently tailored to pupils’ differing abilities” but said teachers do forge “positive, caring relationships with the pupils”.

Despite the school’s failings, the report did highlight two main strengths – leaders and staff work effectively to support pupils’ emotional and behavioural development and pupils enjoy school and typically behave well in lessons and around the school site.

Jo August, chief operating officer at Partnerships in Children’s Services, which runs ISP School, said: “We are obviously very disappointed by the findings of the recent Ofsted inspection and whilst there were some positive areas highlighted, we acknowledge that there were clearly areas for improvement.

“The safety and wellbeing of our children has always been at the heart of our operation and following the outcome of the inspection in July, we took immediate independent advice resulting in a robust action plan to address and remedy all areas of concern within the report.

“We have always been fully committed to providing a safe and therapeutic learning environment for our children" - Jo August

"Remedial action was taken swiftly and comprehensively over the summer holidays and in advance of the new term.”

She said senior level governance is under review and a new director of education has been appointed.

“We have always been fully committed to providing a safe and therapeutic learning environment for our children and we were pleased to see this recognised through positive comments in the report,” she said.

“We would like to reassure our parents and stakeholders that we are working hard and investing fully to rectify the issues highlighted and provide an environment where our students can achieve their full potential.”