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Bristol Montpelier High School receives termination warning

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The school was previously inspected in 2010

The government has threatened to withdraw funding for a school unless improvements are made after Ofsted rated it as "inadequate".

The warning was sent to Montpelier High School in Bristol that was rated as "outstanding" in a previous inspection.

The most recent report identified bullying and failings in areas such as safeguarding.

Venturers Trust that runs the school said it was taking steps to make "rapid improvements".

Montpelier High School was recently rebranded following anti-racism protests, during which a statue of the former slave trader Edward Colston was thrown into Bristol's harbour.

The penultimate Ofsted inspection, for which it received an 'Outstanding' rating', was conducted in 2010.

From then until November 2020, the school was exempted by law from routine inspection.

The 2022 Ofsted report states:

  • The school does not feel like a safe place.
  • Some pupils say they experience bullying by their peers that goes unresolved.
  • The school's quality of education was "not good enough".
  • The curriculum does not prioritise early reading sufficiently.
  • Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have mixed experiences.
  • The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.
  • In some subjects, leaders have not given sufficient thought to what pupils will learn.

'Rigorous systematic approach'

Venturers Trust CEO David Watson OBE said the trust had the "capacity and expertise to support the school".

"We continue to work very closely with our board of trustees and sponsors alongside the school's senior leaders and governors, taking a rigorous and systematic approach to ensure that the right level of support and challenge is provided and that everyone in the school feels safe.

"I am confident that we are putting in place all the components necessary to rapidly improve the school and to ensure that every student can thrive, not just academically, but in every aspect of school life."

A number of recommendations have been suggested by the Department for Education and Ofsted.

Its next Ofsted inspection is due in January 2025.

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