A SCHOOL has hit back at Ofsted after an inspection rated them inadequate.

As reported by The Press, inspectors held a social care inspection at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire and were told that on their last day of school, 81 Year 13 students left the boarding houses at night and attended an "unauthorised gathering" they had planned to celebrate the end of the academic year.

But the school says there are factual inaccuracies in the report.

They say: "Unfortunately, our steps to ensure accuracy have been received by Ofsted as a failure on our part to accept responsibility.

"It is with great reluctance and regret that we find ourselves compelled into this response but we cannot stand publicly behind a report containing ill-founded conclusions and we will continue to do everything in our power to demonstrate to Ofsted the need to revisit their assessment in the light of the evidence already in their possession."

In the case of 'the Year 13 incident', the school said Ofsted’s assertion that a student was missing for an hour and was unconscious in an orchard is 'simply incorrect'.

They say: "A logged phone call with the student and other evidence demonstrate that they were absent for a total of 15 minutes and were not unconscious. A trace of class A drugs was found in one student’s room but there was no evidence of drugs being consumed.

"In recognition that this was the Year 13 students’ last night at school and there had been some frustrations about Covid restrictions, boarding House staff stayed up until 1.30am and were on duty all night. Established and maintained security procedures were in place including on-site security personnel, CCTV alarm systems, security stays on windows and other security devices.

"The students planned and co-ordinated their departure from the boarding houses after 2am, and damaged or disabled the security systems in order to evade detection.

"This is a matter of great regret and they were disciplined in a manner which reflected the seriousness of the incident. Long before Ofsted’s inspection, the school commissioned and had implemented additional security measures."

Ofsted say that the college safeguarding is inadequate because the arrangements agreed between the college and the nearby Ampleforth Abbey had changed. They conclude that this means monks found guilty of child sexual abuse could live in the neighbouring monastery.

The school says: "This is incorrect. In line with arrangements put in place in recent years, the school and the abbey have become two separate institutions with delineated sites and marked boundaries.

"This separation is monitored and controlled by CCTV, fences, risk assessments, a robust Visitor Policy, and security personnel. The monastic community is subject to regulatory oversight and concerns about any person implicated in misconduct is a matter for determination between the monastic community, its Charitable Trustees and statutory regulators.

"All resident monks have enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service clearance (a requirement of the Catholic Church for any monk in ministry).

"Nine of the monks at Ampleforth Abbey work in the college as chaplains. They have gone through all the usual checks for staff required by safer recruitment regulations.

"Like all other visitors to the school, monks who are not members of staff must register at Reception, wear a specifically coloured lanyard and be accompanied by an authorised member of staff at all times."

The college says it has has agreed a draft Safeguarding Protocol with the Abbey which is in operation and was at the time of the inspection, sets out that both the school and North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (NYSCP) will be informed of any possibility of a monk about whom there is a safeguarding concern living in the Abbey and will be able to make representations before any decision is made.

It says decisions will also be informed by external professional advice and risk assessments.

The college says: "This places the college in a far more informed and influential position than any other school where there is a risk of adults of concern residing or working nearby. Through this protocol, we know there are no monks currently subject to a police investigation or without a current enhanced DBS check in place living at Ampleforth Abbey.

"It would not be possible for any monks found guilty of child sexual abuse to return to the Abbey.

"First, the consequence of such a finding is that they would be laicised and are no longer monks.

"Second, the protocol requires any returning monk to be risk assessed. No person convicted of child sexual abuse would receive a positive risk assessment. In addition, the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) process enables the Police, Probation Service and others to assess and manage risks posed by MAPPA eligible offenders."

Head teacher, Robin Dyer, said: “We are deeply disappointed that Ofsted should have produced a report based on a number of incorrect assumptions and factual inaccuracies regarding our safeguarding.

"We have made repeated attempts to correct the facts before the report was published. We do not lightly stand up to our regulator but in this instance the injustice cannot be allowed to stand.

"Ampleforth is a safe school. Our students know it and our parents and staff know it too.”