Birmingham school Ark Kings Academy given funding warning

A school has been warned funding could be withdrawn after reports of bullying and homophobic behaviour among pupils.

The Department for Education (DfE) handed the warning to the Ark Kings Academy in Birmingham following an Ofsted inspection earlier this year.

The Ofsted report found secondary pupils did not feel safe, while "bullying, derogatory language and homophobic behaviours are commonplace".

A spokesperson for the academy said it was addressing the issues raised.

The school was rated "inadequate" in almost every category, including leadership, behaviour, personal development and quality of education.

The official Termination Warning Notice to the school cited a range of issues picked up by Ofsted for the decision to potentially remove funding.

Ark Kings Academy is run by Ark Schools, one of the country's largest academy chains, which operates 39 schools in all.

The Ofsted report, published this month, following an inspection in February, said: "Some pupils, particularly those who identify as LGBT, experience repeated name-calling and prejudiced behaviour. This means that pupils do not feel safe in the school."

It said pupils did not treat each other with respect and that some "feel that they have to tolerate the frequent sexual harassment towards them".

Ofsted said pupils had "no confidence" that staff would support them when they raised concerns.

The report also noted that pupils with special educational needs and disabilities were also more likely to receive sanctions than their peers, with a "high and increasing" number of suspensions.

In his formal warning to the school, Regional Schools Commissioner Andrew Warren said he needed "to be satisfied that the trust has capacity to deliver rapid and sustainable improvement".

"If I am not satisfied that this can be achieved, I will consider whether to terminate the funding agreement in order to transfer the academy to an alternative academy trust," he wrote.

In response, an Ark spokesperson said: "Whilst very disappointed with the inspection judgment, we fully accept the findings of the inspection report.

"We had identified many of the issues prior to the inspection and had taken action to begin to address these ahead of the inspection."

The school said work had gathered pace and that it was "very confident the school will improve rapidly over the coming months".

It said it had appointed an executive principal and a new secondary principal to lead the work.

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