A SCHOOL where racist incidents doubled in a year has been deemed inadequate in a damning report that highlights a catalogue of failings.

Inspectors say pupils are not safe at Hillsview Academy, where they are failing to thrive in an environment marked by racism, bullying, truancy and poor leadership.

In just one academic year, racist incidents almost doubled, according to an Ofsted report published this week into the school on Normanby Road, Middlesbrough.

The report claims children are not kept safe at the Teesville school, where disruptive behaviour is a significant problem and staff are not doing enough to record instances of racism or bullying.

It says: “On a day-to-day basis, because of poor behaviour in lessons and around the school, pupils are not safe.”

The report added: “Leaders are not tackling poor behaviour well enough – pupils say that they sometimes do not feel safe in school due to pupils pushing, shoving and running in corridors.”

Pupils are also smoking on site with the school accused of not doing enough to address the problem.

Exclusion rates are well above the national average while the report says inadequate teaching has meant “poor progress for all groups of pupils in a broad range of subjects, including English and mathematics.”

Youngsters complained that they were often unable to learn due to interruptions from classmates, while strategies to improve reading were abandoned by the school following poor behaviour from the pupils involved.

Inspectors witnessed pupils sniggering at those who gave an incorrect answer or could not answer a teacher’s question.

Children with special needs and disabilities are also making inadequate progress, though a recently appointed special educational needs coordinator is currently taking action to address the issue.

However, the introduction of a facility called The Bridge, which operates as a safe haven for vulnerable pupils has helped children to continue with their work.

Inspectors say the school is working to tackle many of the problems highlighted but that pupils’ progress, attendance and behaviour was not improving rapidly enough.

The school’s sixth form was found to be helping students to make good progress, particularly in vocational courses.

The school opened in 2014 following the merger of Eston Park Academy and Gilbrook Academy and has faced “major challenges” since, according to the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET).

A statement from AET, which has responsibility for Hillsview, said: “AET accepts these findings but is disappointed at the rating, which it feels does not take account of the decisive actions Hillsview’s principal has put in place to address some of the long-standing difficulties at the school.”

It went on to say that measures had been taken since the Ofsted report to meet recommendations, particularly around safeguarding.

The statement said the school had “faced some major challenges through its short history to date” but claimed principal Doug Elliott had made a number of positive changes since being appointed in March 2016 and that an independent company had recently carried out a thorough review of safeguarding procedures.

Mr Elliott’s actions are reflected in the Ofsted report but AET believe “the school has not yet been given the time or opportunity for them to take effect.”

Executive principal David Fuller said: “We want Hillsview to be a good academy at the heart of its community, delivering the highest standards for all of its young people.

“We want those young people to develop into high-achieving and well-rounded individuals who will be ready for the real world and able to make a positive contribution to their community.

“We have great confidence in the ability of Doug Elliott and his team to achieve this vision.”

One parent said her daughters had experienced a high turnover of teachers, bullying and out of control pupils.

She said staff struggled to tackle problems as they were stretched due to “the amount of fighting, bullying and internal exclusions”.

She added: “Since the schools merged there have been problems.

“The teachers work really hard but as the classes are often full to capacity, it’s hard for them to control the students.

“Many parents think the school places more emphasis on skirt length and shoe colour than they do meeting the actual needs of the children.”