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Abstract

A troubled free school which has been hit by a mass exodus of teaching staff in recent months has been described as “inadequate” in a damning Ofsted report.

Inspectors found that managers of Tech City College, in City Road, have failed to make sufficient improvements in provision since the school was failed a year ago, although it was run by a different company then.

Inspectors, who judged the school “inadequate” in all categories, found that a “high staff turnover and frequent staff absence” disrupt the learning process, pupils’ progress remains “unacceptably low”, and teachers pay “insufficient attention” to the skills that pupils need to develop and do not provide them with the feedback they require. Attendance is also “very poor”, the report said.

The Department for Education (DfE) said it is “working closely” with the Aspirations Academies Trust, which runs the college, to ensure “rapid improvement” takes place.

The college, which specialises in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths), has suffered a string of resignations by teachers amid claims Aspirations is struggling to replace them.

Commenting on the report, Ken Muller, joint secretary of the Islington branch of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), said: “Tech City College and its predecessor academy, STEM 6, have been a disaster, not least for the students who have been failed, not only by those meant to be running it, but also by Tory government ministers responsible for initiating the free school programme in the first place.

“Ofsted has now found both the original management – and the replacement put in place by the Aspirations Academies Trust – to be inadequate. What is the Department of Education going to do about it? Who is going to take responsibility for turning things round?”

Until September, the school was known as the STEM Academy Tech City but was taken over after last year’s highly critical Ofsted report. Since then it has been part of Aspirations, a multi-academy trust with schools and colleges in London, Banbury and Poole.

Trust director Vanessa Miner said Aspirations is improving provision but needs time to turn things around.

She added: “It’s only been a short length of time since we came in, in September. When we walked in it was completely chaotic.

“We had to put new systems in place but in 20 weeks you haven’t got time to show the results of that change programme. We have every confidence that we will get this college in a good situation.”

A DfE spokesman said: “Aspirations Academies Trust took over Tech City College in September 2015, and the Regional Schools Commissioner is working closely with them to ensure the rapid improvement required takes place.”