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More than 200 people have signed a petition blasting the decision to brand a Preston primary school as ‘inadequate’ – and calling for a “fair” reassessment to be carried out.
Eldon Primary School was handed the judgement by the regulator Ofsted last month. It saw the Plungington facility plummet from the ‘outstanding’ status it secured after its last inspection seven years ago to what is the lowest possible rating.
Ofsted criticised what it described as the “sustained high turnover in staffing” and the “fractured relationships between the school [and] some parents and carers” for a decline in pupils’ education.
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Under government legislation, the poor grading of the 250-pupil school means it is now set to become an academy and so leave the control of Lancashire County Council.
The Blackburn-based Star Academies chain has been named as the preferred sponsor of the school, with an academy order due to have been considered at a regional meeting of the Department for Education on Thursday. However, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands no final decision has yet been taken.
Meanwhile, amidst that process, some parents defended Eldon and its long-serving headteacher Azra Butt.
Because the report by Ofsted recognised a raft of positives about the school – including the behaviour of the children and the breadth of the curriculum – the 206 signatories to the petition have described the overall rating as an “unjust downgrade”.
They are calling for “a full, unbiased reinspection” of the establishment, which they say “deserves a fair evaluation that truly reflects its outstanding contributions to education and our community”.
Dr. Mohammed Elshamy, who started the petition, told the LDRS: “Inadequate is definitely an inadequate label to be placed on that school.”
He added: “I can understand Ofsted are seeking higher standards and if it came to the [rating] maybe being ‘good’ instead of ‘outstanding’, I would feel sorry for the teachers, because I’ve seen [what they do] – but I would say maybe that’s just to push them.
“I’m not saying that everything is perfect [or that] there’s no place for improvement. But labelling the work as inadequate – there’s no way on earth that would be true and fair.”
“We receive messages from the school [at all hours] – that means there are people who dedicate a lot of their life, even beyond what their duty is, to try to help [the children],” said Dr. Elshamy, whose son spent five years at Eldon before moving to secondary school this year.
Muhammad Mailk, who has two children currently at the school, not only wants Ofsted to return for a second look – but to rethink how they respond to what they find. As somebody who has been on both sides of the quality assurance process in his own career, he says the regulator has taken the wrong approach with Eldon – by pointing out problems without giving time for them to be rectified.
“You highlight those points that are good [and] those that are under par [and say], ‘You need to improve in this area – and you have two months, three months’ [or] whatever and we will revisit.
“No such thing happened here…they just told them that [the school was going to become an academy],” Muhammed said. He also highlighted the academic performance of the school.
“You can see [in] the results that they are meeting almost all the standards throughout the UK – or even exceeding those standards.
“All of sudden a report is released saying [most things are] fine [and because of] only one factor – which is mainly related to [the] complaint-handling procedure – they put it [down as] inadequate,” Muhammed added.
The latest government statistics for pupils who left Eldon in the summer of 2023 show that 77 percent of that key stage 2 cohort was meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.
In its report, Ofsted acknowledged the above average performance in those subjects, but said that in many others, “pupils do not learn all that they should”. It found that the school had become “distracted” by dealing with staff grievances and parental complaints.
However, Dr. Elshamy said the picture painted by Ofsted was unfair. “We feel so let down as a community, because this school…is a very important part of the society and they are doing exceptionally good work.”
Ofsted told Blog Preston it had nothing to add to the findings of its inspection report.
The governing body in place at the school until earlier this month – when it was replaced by an interim executive board installed by Lancashire County Council in the wake of the Ofsted judgement – had already launched an appeal against the inspection outcome.
Now that those governors are no longer in post, it is unclear whether that challenge will still be considered by the regulator. Ofsted told the LDRS that it did not comment on individual complaints, while Lancashire County Council also declined to comment on the status of the appeal.
The issue is a crucial one for Eldon’s future, as any uprating from inadequate of a school set to be turned into an academy is one of the few circumstances in which the process can be halted – although it still requires the intervention of a government minister.
The Department for Education was also approached by the LDRS regarding the progress of the academy order that is automatically issued after a school has been rated inadequate.
‘Look at the bigger picture’
When Rachel Lowe, who has a daughter at Eldon Primary, was struggling with health problems, she says the school swung into action on behalf of both her and her child.
“We were late for a couple of days and I got really upset and broke down in the nursery – and they were really brilliant with me,” Rachel recalls.
“The learning mentor at the time rang social services. I was panicking [at first], but they got me a care package – and it was an absolute godsend.”
She acknowledges that she had “teething problems” with the school at first and also that it has “not been ideal” to have had such a high turnover of staff. As the LDRS revealed last year, every permanent class teacher bar one departed over an 18-month period between July 2021 and January 2023.
However, Rachel blames Lancashire County Council, saying the authority should have intervened to deal with any problems and so potentially have headed off the damning Ofsted verdict handed down last month – and the academisation process it has now sparked.
“They should have worked alongside [the school] and not just basically washed [their] hands of it – because that’s what they’re doing. Now it’s just chaos – we don’t know what’s happening.
“[There have also been] parents complaining – they have targeted Mrs. Butt. [But Ofsted] should have spoken to everybody involved in that school – they don’t look at the whole picture, they look at snippets.
“Granted, it doesn’t look good when you’ve had that many teaching staff and different learning mentors – but that’s not the bigger picture.
“What other school do you know with a house that teaches kids to budget [and gives them] life skills before they go to high school. They also hire a swimming pool in a marquee, so every single child in that school gets to have a swimming lesson.
“And there’s no colour or race division – it’s a multicultural, diverse school,” Rachel said.
Dr. Elshamy, who came to the UK from Egypt six years ago, says his son spoke very little English when he joined Eldon, but made such good progress he has now been able to move on to Lancaster Grammar School, having to pass the requisite test in order to secure a place there.
“We felt that the school made a huge contribution to the development of my son, not just in his education, but his personality and his ability to integrate into society,” he said.
Meanwhile, Simone Mulvanny, who has a son in reception and a daughter in year 3, says she now wants to offer the school the kind of support it has always given her.
“I had really bad anxiety when my little girl started school and I didn’t like going in the yard where it was full of parents. So the school [arranged] for me to bring my daughter into the office away from all the crowds – they made me feel so safe.
“I can see the stress in those teachers’ faces [since the Ofsted inspection] – and it gets to me. I even started crying [as have some of] the teachers. It shows the strength and the love that we have for the school and the kids.
“I’m not bothered what Ofsted have to say, because I have my own opinions of that school,” Simone added.
Responding to the issues raised in this report, a spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said: “The new interim executive board (IEB) is now in place and is working with staff and the whole school community to move things forwards at pace.
“It’s important that we all pull together as we move forward to ensure we achieve the best possible outcomes for pupils.
“We would like to reassure parents, carers and the wider school community that we will continue to closely support the school during this time and throughout the improvement journey.”
“Fighting senior leadership”
While there is significant support for the school in its current form, the Ofsted report did highlight a breakdown in the relationship between senior leadership and some parents who do not hold the leadership at the school in high regard.
Many of these parents did not want to be named when contacting Blog Preston as they have been told their concerns and motives have roots in racism.
One parent said: “We have been fighting senior leadership for two years due to failures, lack of help and support to children that need it.
“Instead of helping children, they blame the child for their behaviour or even the parenting that has been provided.”
Another parent said: “I felt very alone in the process [of making complaints] but once hearing other parents speaking out I realised I wasn’t alone. Many parents from all backgrounds were speaking out yet it’s being painted as racism.”
The behaviour of several parents – accused of targeting the homes of senior leaders at the school – has been reported to Lancashire Constabulary. When no further action was taken, Lancashire County Council assumed responsibility for those complaints.
Those accusations and the debates around the school have regularly spilled into the public domain with Preston City Councillor Pav Akhtar, one of the outgoing governors at the school, accused of characterising the behaviour of some parents as racist.
Qualification questions
Some parents have expressed concern about Eldon Primary now being poised to become an academy.
Academy chains like the one set to take over at Eldon – Star Academies – are charitable organisations that are responsible for groups of schools. The academies themselves remain state-funded, but are no longer under the control of the local council.
However, Rachel Lowe claimed it will become “all about the money” if that fate befalls the school attended by her daughter.
“Academies can have teachers that aren’t fully qualified – and that is going to be a detriment to the kids,” she said.
Fellow parent Muhammed Malik echoed those fears.
“[If] there is significant cost cutting…there is a significant impact on teaching [and] on the extra [activities] that you are getting,” he warned.
As part of the freedoms they enjoy, academies can employ unqualified teaching staff if they are deemed suitable for the role.
According to government data analysed by the LDRS, only 2.5 percent of teachers in primary academies were not fully qualified in 2023/24, while the proportion was slightly higher for the secondary sector, standing at 3.7 percent.
The two Star Academies schools in Preston – The Olive School and Eden Boys’ School – were both rated Outstanding in their most recent Ofsted inspections.
Star Academies was approached for comment.
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