Former teachers and parents of pupils at a special school slammed its leadership over what they described as a "toxic atmosphere" after it drifted from 'outstanding' to 'requires improvement'.
Abbots Lea School, in Woolton, has been beset by problems related to what regulator Ofsted described as "unresolved tensions" between some staff and management which were "preventing ongoing school improvement".
Sub-categories for 'quality of education ', 'behaviour and attitudes', and 'personal development' were rated 'good' by inspectors, although 'leadership and management' was classed as 'requires improvement'.
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The school specialises in educating children with autism or similar conditions and other learning difficulties, including children with severe behavioural problems, and had been rated 'outstanding' at the previous inspection in January 2016.
Now three former teachers, who left the school in the weeks before the Ofsted inspection, have spoken out about their concerns with the approach of senior leaders - and claimed staff felt sometimes "unsafe" while doing their jobs.
Head teacher Ania Hildrey hit back, claiming that "students are at the centre" of the school's approach and it had been "taking steps" to resolve tensions between some staff and senior leaders.
She also cited Ofsted's "good" rating on the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes and personal development opportunities.
However, one teacher, who had spent over a decade at the school, told the ECHO staff turnover rocketed since the previous head left.
They said: "Since July alone between 20 to 23 staff have left; that's teaching and non-teaching staff. Around Christmas three really experienced teachers went and a whole raft of support staff.
"People had just had enough, some were off with stress, or with work-related injuries, the place was just being papered over the cracks."
As part of efforts to balance the budgets, class sizes increased, according to the former teachers, which they said caused significant difficulties and left staff "firefighting" incidents, including assaults by pupils on staff.
And they said this was compounded with the introduction of 'restorative practice', where instead of punishment or discipline for bad behaviour children are encouraged to engage with any 'victims' and consider what impact it has had.
The teachers claimed the policy caused significant problems - with one describing situations where pupils would tell a teacher to "f*** off" and "nothing would happen".
Some parents also spoke to the ECHO about the policy, describing how concerns that the school’s direction was causing “suffering” for children’s mental health were raised more than two years ago.
One said they believed children were “failed” by the approach and claimed it led to young people being assaulted on site by their peers.
It was felt, the parents said, that adopting the new policy removed the possibility of sanctions and the school was “not meeting their needs.”
In an email to school leaders, some parents said they did not want their children to be “guinea pigs” for the change in policy and felt they had been left in confusion over who would be accountable for any potential failings.
It was claimed the leadership at Abbots Lea had not been "transparent” with pupils over incidents where children had allegedly required medical attention.
Following one such occasion, it has been alleged a child wrote how as a result of ongoing physical altercations, they did not trust any of the teachers at Abbots Lea.
The child's parents said they felt “genuinely concerned” at the possibility of them returning as they "feared the worst".
They said despite attempting to open a dialogue with the school, they had made a decision to remove their children from Abbots Lea.
Describing the staff's views on restorative practice, one former teacher said: "In theory restorative practice makes sense and sounds good, but it assumes ability to empathise with the victim; something some students with autism spectrum disorder struggle with.
"It also demands staff time with victims and perpetrators which was impossible in the environment of Abbots Lea due to large class sizes, low staff ratio and dysregulated students who needed somewhere quiet to calm and engage in the process.
"The incredibly high staff turnover meant lack of continuity and stability for students. Staff were always firefighting; going from incident to incident to keep students safe, but given no time or support to deal with the real issues.
"It also requires a level of communication and comprehension that some students did not have.
"Class-based staff did not have the opportunity to implement this properly, there was training, then staff were given prompt cards and told to get on with it.
"It looked good on videos etc, but was never practised properly. There was no opportunity to reflect on incidents with supportive Senior Leadership Team (SLT).
"Staff felt judged and CCTV footage of incidents was analysed and staff were told to reflect on how they could have behaved differently, like it was their fault.
"If it was meant to be embedded properly, a school should have a restorative practice leader on the staff, there wasn’t one so the program was never implemented properly, hence staff resistance to it."
Another former teacher said: "Staff gave restorative practice and positive behaviour support an opportunity, but the approaches weren’t suitable for our cohort of pupils."
One teacher described how inexperienced, newly qualified teachers and teaching assistants were "thrown in at the deep end" to fill vacancies.
They told the ECHO: "These are really, really complex young people, that's why they are there at the end of the day. There was a very young members of staff who was put on a one-to-one with an incredibly complex young person with a lot of mental health issues. She was a young girl and I just remember her in tears at the end of the day, saying 'this is not for me'.
"She had no chance to learn from somebody else or feel supported. These one-to-ones are intense situations, I know these young people and I know what they're capable of.
"This young staff member didn't come back, and that's really, really sad."
The former staff also expressed concern over what they believe is a "bloated" administration department for a school with around 270 pupils.
Since Ms Hildrey took the reins in 2016, the school introduced its own in-house payroll and HR departments from the local authority - as well as introducing positions including a 'data analyst' and a 'head of research'.
However the school says its staffing and structural decisions have been "scrutinised" by Liverpool Council and its "financial position is currently stable" compared to a "significant financial deficit" in 2016.
Ms Hildrey said: "At Abbot’s Lea School, our students are at the centre of all we do, and their welfare and safeguarding is of paramount importance.
"As evidenced by our recent Ofsted inspection, our safeguarding is effective, quality of education, behaviour and attitudes as well as personal development opportunities are all judged to be ‘good’. This applies to children across the school.
"Our school, like all special schools in Liverpool, has grown, is highly popular and is currently oversubscribed.
"Liverpool City Council is currently reviewing its SEND Sufficiency Strategy and we await its outcome, hoping it provides some positive resolutions to the oversubscription at Abbot’s Lea School.
"Despite this growth, as concluded by Ofsted, there is no negative impact of the class sizes on students’ experience at school or their outcomes.
"We acknowledge there is some tension between a minority of staff and leaders and we are taking steps to improve this so that all staff feel able and supported to deliver our School Development Plan.
"We have created a number of communication channels and support approaches to unite the team. Early signs are showing that they are helping us work through any unresolved issues.
We have always promoted open collegiate communication. This extends to any HR processes related to structural changes, where we have always followed policy and consulted with relevant staff and their trade unions."
Referring to the concerns expressed by parents, she said a "specific nurture provision programme" has been launched for children and young people with the most complex and least understood needs.
She added: "This year, we created a full time in-house Multi-Disciplinary Team including Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist and Sensory Integration Specialist, as well as a Child Psychotherapist.
“We also have a vacancy for a Child Psychologist we hope to fill soon. These are just a couple of examples of our school having our students at the centre of our leadership and management decisions and the support for the most complex needs at the heart of what we do."
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