Colchester St George’s Infant School pupils ‘violent to staff’

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Staff at an infant school are frequently the target of violence from pupils, a report has found.

Ofsted inspectors found pupils at St George’s Infant School and Nursery in Colchester “throw things in lessons” and some “fail to follow basic rules”.

Inspectors said the majority of pupils behaved well, but “not enough is done to stop the unacceptable behaviour of a few” and rated the school inadequate.

The school said it was “working hard” to act upon “lessons learned”.

The inspection in January, which followed a one in which the school was rated as requiring improvement, found “standards achieved by pupils currently in the school are still poor”.

“This is because the curriculum is not planned or taught well enough,” inspectors said, adding attendance at the school “has not been high enough”.

‘Violence from pupils’

Inspectors said: “Behaviour management has improved, but is not having sufficient impact. There are frequent assaults on staff by pupils.

“While the majority of pupils behave well, not enough is done to stop the unacceptable behaviour of a few.

“Staff feel protected from bullying and harassment, but they do not feel protected from violence from pupils.”

The report found “pupils fall behind because some teachers have low expectations and no clear plans to set out what they should teach”.

It added too many pupils with special educational needs or those with disabilities “do not receive the support they should”.

Inspectors acknowledged the school, which has no permanent head teacher, was “in a period of change”.

Carl Messer, interim executive head teacher, said they were “already working hard to ensure that the lessons learned from the recent inspection by Ofsted are being swiftly acted upon”.

“We know that, with continued support from the whole school community, we will again be able to provide a service that will meet the needs of every individual child to the highest standard,” he added.