Ofsted should have inspected a special school where severely disabled children were left to go hungry three months earlier than it did, a damning safeguarding investigation has suggested.
Health staff sounded the alarm 20 times about concerning practice at Harlow Academy, including inappropriate use of restraint and failure to provider mobility equipment, Nottinghamshire’s safeguarding review revealed.
But Ofsted did not inspect the school until three months later. The review also criticised the response of other authorities who were “waiting” for the inspectorate to act, meaning multiple opportunities to intervene were missed.
The review also found the academy commissioning process to appoint the Evolve Trust to run the school was “flawed”.
