A high-profile school has lost a legal bid to keep secret an ‘unfair’ Ofsted report where it was downgraded from ‘outstanding’ over wrongly recording suspensions.
Thomas Telford School, in Telford, was knocked down to ‘good’ over the way in which “cooling off periods” for pupils were documented, a court heard on Monday.
The lead inspector had initially accused the school of “acting illegally” or “gaming the system” over how it recorded absences, the school’s counsel Russell Holland said.
However, as Thomas Telford is a City Technology College – statutory guidance on exclusions and suspensions did not apply to the school, the court heard.
