A YORK independent school received an additional inspection following a “single isolated incident,” and was told it was not meeting all safeguarding requirements and leadership and management standards.

Bootham School said the incident happened at the school, but would not release more details. However, it confirmed the incident did not involve any adult employed or connected to the school.

Its head teacher Chris Jeffery said the welfare of students is “our first priority” and that the school has “learned from the experience”.

The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) carried out an unannounced additional inspection at the school in October, at the request of the Department for Education. The focus was on whether the school complied with regulatory standards.

The school meets the standards for behaviour, bullying, health and safety, risk assessment and provision of information, according to the inspection report.

But inspectors found it was not meeting all of the standards and requirements for safeguarding.

The report said: “The school has not always followed its own policy and procedures when seeking guidance or making referrals to external agencies, including the school’s safeguarding partners.

"Such referrals and/ or discussions are not always carried out in a timely or appropriate manner. School records do not always fully reflect the nature of some safeguarding concerns as they do not include sufficient and timely information on discussions with external agencies.”

Inspectors also judged that the school was not meeting the standards for leadership and management.

“Leaders and managers have appropriate levels of experience and demonstrate effective oversight and monitor any incidents of poor behaviour and bullying effectively, and they ensure that there is appropriate provision for health and safety and that risk assessments are in place,” the report said.

“However, they do not always demonstrate good skills in fulfilling their responsibilities effectively to ensure that the independent school standards are met consistently. Safeguarding procedures, relating to liaison with external agencies and the recording of any such contact, sometimes lack rigour. Leaders and managers, including governance, do not fully fulfill their responsibilities in overseeing these two areas.”

To help the school tackle the shortcomings, it has been told to ensure that it responds promptly and appropriately when any safeguarding concerns are raised in accordance with school policy and locally agreed procedures, and to make sure appropriate records are kept of all communication between the school and the local safeguarding partners.

The school has also been told to ensure its leaders and managers demonstrate good skills and knowledge appropriate to their roles and fulfil their responsibilities effectively to actively promote the well-being of pupils.

A statement from Bootham School said the inspection “related to a single isolated incident”.

Inspectors found that students at Bootham are both happy and safe, and that the action the school had taken in this situation was effective in keeping students safe, the statement said.

It added: “However, the school was deemed not to have fully met the Independent Schools Standard on safeguarding in this one particular instance, as it did not report or record its actions as fully and appropriately as it should have done. Judgments on leadership and management follow automatically, and are not additional findings. The case in question does not relate to any adult employed by or connected to the school.”

Mr Jeffery said: “Our students’ welfare is our first priority and we will never be complacent about this central responsibility. Therefore we fully accept the judgment of the inspectors and have learned from the experience. We welcome the fact that it was acknowledged that we dealt with the situation effectively and that our students are safe in school, but have immediately put in place extra measures to ensure that the very specific procedural circumstances under scrutiny do not happen again.

"We hope parents and students can be reassured by the fact that the inspectors found no systemic issues with safeguarding at Bootham. We are also pleased that they take time in their report to highlight several aspects of good practice.

“The ISI inspectors will revisit the school within six months of their initial visit to assure themselves that the specific aspects of the regulations that were not fully met on this occasion have been addressed. The school is confident that it will be fully compliant.”