An Oxford private school where parents pay up to £30,500 a year has been found to be failing to keep children safe after an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted inspection.
Oxford International College on London Place just outside of the city centre is an independent boarding catering to pupils aged between 14 and 19 years old.
The institution, which is chaired by Andrew Fitzmaurice, has just short of 700 pupils between its school and sixth form year groups.
Annual fees for day pupils range between £29,250 and £30,500 but the school was rated as ‘inadequate’ in Ofsted’s latest report.
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Inspectors visited the premises between Tuesday, April 16 and Thursday, April 18 earlier this year and were far from impressed.
One major issue which was outlined was the safeguarding failures at the school which raised serious concerns.
“The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective,” read the report.
“School leaders are not sufficiently knowledgeable about safeguarding practice to carry out their duties effectively.
“Leaders do not always recognise when something constitutes a serious concern and, consequently, they sometimes fail to take important actions to keep pupils safe.
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“The school’s safeguarding culture is not open and transparent and leaders do not refer to children’s services or liaise with other agencies when they should.
“They do not have a clear approach to communicating with agencies overseas where necessary, despite this being raised at a previous inspection of the boarding provision.
“This has left some pupils at increased risk of harm.”
The curriculum at the Oxford private school was also called into question by inspectors during their visit.
“Sixth-form students are not prepared for life in modern Britain,” continued the damning report.
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“They do not receive a PSHE or RSE curriculum as sixth-form students do not receive adequate relationships and sex and health education.
“Leaders must ensure that there is a curriculum in place and that this meets the specific needs of their student cohort.
“They should ensure that this is designed to equip students with the knowledge they need to keep themselves safe now and in the future.”
The school’s wishes to expand the institution further were also quashed by Ofsted who regarded the idea as “not appropriate” whilst the school is failing to meet standards.
“Leadership capacity has not kept up with the pace of the school’s growth,” added the report.
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“Leaders requested a material change inspection at the same time as this inspection to increase the school’s capacity further.
“The school is not currently meeting the independent school standards and it would not be appropriate for it to expand further at the current time.”
The Oxford Mail contacted Oxford International College for comment on the Ofsted inspection but received no response from the school.
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