Ofsted inspection: Gosport school, Bay House, ‘requires improvement’, as Ofsted find discriminatory language common amongst pupils

Bay House school and sixth form - previously rated as good - in Alverstoke has been downgraded in its latest Ofsted report. Its quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, and personal development have all fallen below standard, inspectors found.

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According to the inspection, carried out in late November 2022, some pupils do not trust staff to deal with poor behaviour and think that discriminatory language is too common to bother reporting.

Ofsted said: ‘They [pupils] worry about further repercussions from making a stand against unkindness. They do not always report bullying because they do not feel confident that all staff will take a consistent and effective approach to help them.’

On top of this, Ofsted noted that younger students lack awareness of diversity and those in sixth form do not effectively learn the life skills they need for the future. Issues with admin were also highlighted by the report, including messy record keeping with regard to safeguarding.

Bay House headteacher Nigel Matthias said: ‘As one of the highest performing and most prestigious schools in the county and beyond, we are clearly disappointed that we have fallen short of the extremely high standards we expect for students at Bay House School.

‘Despite the evidence presented to the inspectors of students who gave examples of when their negative experiences were managed well by the school, we accept the problem that not all students feel confident in us.’

In previous years, Bay House has achieved strong GCSE results and roughly 90 per cent of A-level students secured a place at their first-choice university in 2022.

The school is part of Gosport and Fareham Multi-Academy Trust and its leaders have laid out an ambitious and mostly well-planned curriculum, according to Ofsted. However, they pointed out that some staff do not regularly check in with students - leaving behind those who struggle academically.

In response to the Ofsted findings, Mr. Matthias said that the school is reviewing its curriculum and staff training procedures, as well as increasing the range of learning programmes to educate about discrimination.

He added: ‘It remains our priority to ensure every child at this school feels safe, supported and can learn in a welcoming, calm and orderly environment.’