Ampleforth's ban lifted

The DfE lifted Ampleforth College’s ban on new pupils on 19th April. The decision had been pre-announced to the school, which wrote to parents on 16 April saying.

I am pleased to let you know that the Secretary of State for Education has decided to remove the restriction order. This follows Ofsted finding many improvements to our safeguarding procedures during their recent visit and the DfE’s request for, and acceptance of, an action plan demonstrating our long-term commitment to safeguarding excellence.

Curiously the first public mention of the ban being lifted came on 16 April, not from a statement by the DfE, but from the blog of the local MP Kevin Hollinrake.

I am delighted that the imposition of a restriction order by the Department for Education prohibiting the recruitment of new pupils has been lifted at Ampleforth College. This is good news for the school and for the local economy.

It was always my concern that the school should be given a fair hearing and a clear pathway to resolve outstanding issues. The school will be closely monitored and given a set of targets to meet to ensure that outstanding areas of concern are dealt with speedily and I wish the Head Teacher, the staff, pupils and parents well in the months ahead.

The Daily Telegraph was also tipped off about the decision, and published an exclusive on 16 April saying:

Ampleforth College has been saved from closure following an intervention from the Education Secretary, the Daily Telegraph has learned.

The leading Benedictine school has had its ban on admitting new pupils overturned after officials at the Department of Education (DfE) said they were satisfied with its safeguarding arrangements.

At this point, the Ofsted report on which the DfE decision was based had not been published, so the Telegraph wasn't actually in a position to say that DfE was "satisfied". in any case, this rather contradicted Kevin Hollinrake's statement that "the school will be closely monitored and given a set of targets to meet", which suggests that DfE is far from satisfied.

The Ofsted report was published on 19 April, the same day that the restriction order was lifted. DfE of course had an advance copy of the Ofsted report (they commissioned the inspection after all), so knew precisely what was in in it. Now it is published one can reasonably wonder what on earth Williamson was thinking. The school has failed (again) to meet the required standards for safeguarding and leadership.

On 19 April the news started to filter out and various papers covered it. They noticed that the ban had been lifted despite the school failing, but mostly seem not to have realised how badly the school was still failing.

The Ofsted report will be analysed in the next article.