Legal row as Holland Park rated inadequate by Ofsted

Parents at one of London’s best known state schools have threatened Ofsted with legal action after it was downgraded from “outstanding” to “inadequate.”

A group of parents claim the decision to rate the school as failing is “irrational”. They argue that the timing of the inspection — as the school is embroiled in a dispute over whether it should join an academy chain — amounted to an abuse of power.

The group, made up of members of the Holland Park School Parents’ Collective, have written to Ofsted saying they could launch a judicial review of the report published last week.

The Ofsted report said that leadership at the school is “poor and unfit for purpose”, standards of pupils’ behaviour have “fallen considerably” and there is “disharmony in the community” due to mutual distrust between the governing body, a group of parents and the local authority.

In their judicial review letter to Ofsted, the parents’ group said school leaders should have had a chance to respond to criticism, and that the school should have been rated as “requires improvement” rather than “inadequate”.

The new Ofsted rating is central to the school’s future. It is set to join the United Learning multi-academy chain after an investigation found the school had a “culture of fear and favouritism.”

The parents’ group said the inadequate rating means decisions on the school’s future will be taken out of its hands. They are already involved in a campaign to halt the move to join United Learning saying there was not a proper consultation. Teachers have spent nine days on strike in the past five weeks. Ofsted would not comment.

It comes after a report by the London School of Economics and Political Science found that the growth of academies, which are independent of local authority control, means state schools are operating to different rules.

It called for state schools to follow the same rules on issues of admissions, curriculum, school governance and resource allocation.

The report said previously there was a “clear line of responsibility” in schools, with governing bodies playing a crucial role, but that is no longer the case.

It said: “Academy trusts, which are registered as companies, are governed by trustees, whose appointment is often opaque.

“Different types of schools are now required to follow different sets of rules. Responsibility for admissions, the curriculum and use of resources varies according to school type, and decisions are taken at different levels, with schools in multi-academy trusts having less power than maintained schools or single academy trusts.”