A boarding house at a school near Burnham-On-Sea for children with learning difficulties has shut down after it was criticised in an Ofsted report.
Mark College in Blackford Road received the “inadequate” rating for the boarding house during its inspection which took place in January this year.
The report found that leaders and managers failed to safeguard children in the school’s boarding house, which placed them at “significant risk of harm.”
The school’s boarding house closed in June and in a statement this week, the school said: “The learning and teaching provision remains unaffected and the college stays fully open and operational as before for all day students.”
“We are very sorry for the disruption this decision has caused to families and it was not a decision we took lightly.”
In the report, Ofsted said there were “widespread failures” in the school’s adherence to national standards and added that leaders failed to ensure the boarding house was safe for students.
The report said: “Leaders and managers have failed to safeguard and promote children’s and young people’s welfare. There are widespread failures in adherence to the national minimum standards. These failures place young people at significant risk of harm.”
“Safeguarding records are inadequate. They do not consistently contain a comprehensive record of all work undertaken as part of an investigation, whether this be an internal investigation, or that carried out by external agencies.”
On the positive side, Ofsted also highlighted that “children and young people say that their views are listened to and are acted upon.”
