Ofsted blasts SEND college for ‘unnecessarily’ putting learners at risk of harm

The principal and trustees of a SEND college have resigned and two campuses will close after Ofsted discovered major safeguarding failures, including unsafe administration of medications.

In a report published today, the watchdog downgraded Langdon College to ‘inadequate’.

Part of the charity Kisharon Langdon, the college was teaching 29 learners at its London campus and 21 learners at its two campuses in Manchester at the time of inspection. It specialises in teaching students who have a range of special educational and emotional needs with a Jewish ethos.

As a result of the damning report, the charity will close the two Manchester campuses at the end of the year and have informed the Department for Education and local authorities to find alternative placements for learners. The college will however retain its London campus.

The specialist college was last graded ‘good’ by Ofsted in 2013. Since then it has had three consecutive ‘requires improvement’ judgments and three monitoring visits. Its last ‘requires improvement’ result was in January 2022, which was followed by a monitoring visit last March in which inspectors said the college was making ‘reasonable progress’.

Leadership and management was the biggest area of concern for inspectors who found a “weak” culture of safeguarding.

Ofsted said too many staff didn’t have current or relevant knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding risks and threats to the learners in their care.

Inspectors discovered that staff “do not routinely follow” college policies for the administration of medications, including recording how much medication is given to learners and when.

“Learners are put at unnecessary risk of harm by the college staff,” the report said.

The college also was found to have an unsuitable recruitment process by not routinely checking criminal records, gaps in employment history or references for new staff.

“Consequently, leaders and managers do not create a safe environment for learners,” the report added.

The report suggests the college parted ways with principal Jane Baker, who has been in post since 2019, shortly after Ofsted called. She has now been replaced by Katie Morley who will join this September.

Ofsted said: “On the day of notification of inspection, the principal of Langdon College was in post, however on the first day of inspection the director of education of Kisharon Langdon stepped in as interim principal to act as nominee for the inspection.”

Just three days after the July 1 to 3 inspection, college trustees and governors resigned and the charity has appointed new trustees.

Emily Haddock, Kisharon Langdon’s director of education, was acting as interim principal after Baker left, while Emma Castleton, the chair of the education committee, has stepped in as interim chair of college trustees.

Inspectors criticised previous leaders’ “poor planning” of the curriculum, leading to too many learners not fulfilling their potential or preparing them for their next steps.

For example, learners continually repeat the same tasks in lessons, make the same products in practical cookery workshops and do not make sufficient progress in their studies.

“Leaders and staff do not have high enough expectations of, and aspirations for, learners,” the report said. “As most staff do not monitor or record learners’ progress well enough, they are unable to share accurate information with parents and carers about the new skills that learners develop.”

The college’s governance arrangements were also found to be “ineffective” as previous governors did not properly hold leaders to account. The recently appointed governing body was too new to evaluate their expertise and the impact of their actions but inspectors did say that they are “well qualified” in SEND and determined to improve the quality of education.

The college was however awarded a ‘good’ for behaviour and attitudes and personal development and ‘requires improvement’ for the quality of education.

Ofsted praised learners’ politeness and helpfulness to tutors, visitors and peers. They said that learners value their friendships and enjoy coming to college.

Another positive from the report was tutors and support staff knowing their learners well, which informs how they communicate with learners who are non-verbal or have limited communication skills. 

As a result, “most learners demonstrate increased confidence and ability, improve their concentration and become increasingly more independent in their learning.”

Richard Franklin, chief executive of Kisharon Langdon, said: “We deeply value the support from local rabbinic leadership, local authorities, and community leaders. Our actions reflect Kisharon Langdon’s unwavering commitment to high standards, safeguarding, and continuous improvement. We are confident these necessary measures will lead to positive outcomes for the future.”