Ofsted to reinspect Queen Emma Primary School in Cambridge after legal challenge threat

A Cambridge school that planned to take Ofsted to court after its rating was downgraded is to be reinspected.

The school inspection body has removed its report on Queen Emma Primary School from its website and acknowledged that there were doubts over its judgement on pupils’ personal development.

But it has yet to confirm a reinspection date.

The primary in Gunhild Way was downgraded it from “good” to “inadequate”, the lowest possible rating, in April after Ofsted claimed its child protection record keeping did “not meet statutory requirements”.

Headteacher Sarah Jarman had said it was as if “a wrecking ball had come through our school” when the inspectors visited.

And the school said it would challenge the rating in the courts.

In a letter to parents and carers, the school said “we totally refute the findings of this report” and added: “We wish to be clear that our objections are not simply a dispute over the interpretation of the evidence.”

It added: “Our contention is that the inspection team repeatedly breached Ofsted’s own procedures and acted unlawfully in a number of respects.

“We have also submitted a Freedom of Information request for Ofsted to make public the evidence base for their report; to date they have not agreed to disclose this information.”

Ofsted has now responded.

In a statement, it said: "During a review of the school's complaint about this inspection, it became apparent that we had not considered concerns about the personal development judgement sufficiently, and this cast some doubt over that particular judgement.

"As a result, we have removed the report from our website and we will reinspect the school."

In a message to parents about the decision, Ms Jarman and chair of governors Sean Lang thanked them for their “resounding” support and said they would seek to claim back from Ofsted the legal fees already spent on the challenge.

Asked this week by the Cambridge Independent if it would reimburse the fees, Ofsted would not elaborate on its statement.

The inspection body has come under scrutiny following the death of Ruth Perry, headteacher at Caversham Primary School in Reading, Berkshire, who took her own life in January while awaiting an Ofsted report which downgraded her school from excellent, the highest rating, to “inadequate”.