A SECONDARY school has come under fire for safeguarding failures which have left the “most vulnerable pupils open to risk.”

Ortu Gable Hall School, in Corringham, has been rated “inadequate” - the lowest possible rating after an Ofsted inspection on May 4 and 5 this year.

The school was rated “good” in two of the inspection criteria, behaviour and sixth form, but scored poorly in the four other criteria.

In a report published last week, Ofsted inspectors raised concerns over a failure to “establish an effective safeguarding culture”.

The report said: “Leaders have not consistently followed statutory guidance in relation to referring to the local authority designated officer when there is a staff allegation.

“They have not followed government guidance for incidents of peer-on-peer abuse or sexual violence and harassment.

However, pupils reported behaviour is much better than it once was and that they “feel safe”.

School bosses have moved to assure parents and students safeguarding concerns are “a top priority”.

A spokesman for the Ortu Federation, which runs the school, said: “We accept the thoroughness of the report, recognise the need to make urgent improvement at the school.

“We are taking urgent action to improve the school. This repair work began well before the report was published and some improvements are already well developed.”

School leaders are working in partnership with safeguarding experts from other boroughs and with specialists from the Local Children’s Safeguarding Partnership to ensure improvements have expert oversight.

Georgina Clark, acting chair of Ortu Trust, said: “Culture, procedure, policy, process and record-keeping are integral to effective safeguarding and we are working hard to ensure that the concerns raised in the Ofsted report are addressed urgently. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our committed staff team who worked relentlessly over the last couple of years to secure the improvements stated in the report.”

Dr Sophina Asong, federation chief executive, added: “The work to improve began the day after the inspection. We are strengthening our teams, partnership working and securing the gains already achieved. There is a lot to be thankful to our staff, students and parents for in this report.”