A Catholic boarding school which charges nearly £38,000 a year has been rated ‘inadequate’ after a report found sex between pupils, boozy parties, class A drugs and concerns around safeguarding pupils from monks.
A number of concerning incidents at Ampleforth College, in North Yorkshire, were uncovered by Ofsted inspectors who visited the school in November.
During one incident last year, the report said, 81 children, aged 17 to 18, held a ‘graduation’ party in a nearby countryside, with one pupil being found unconscious in an orchard after disappearing for an hour and another required hospital treatment due to alcohol consumption.
School leaders also located class A drugs in a boarding house on the same day as the party, according to the report.
Inspectors also said vulnerable students were having sex in PE changing rooms during lesson time and that school leaders could do little to stop ‘monks of concern’ – including those suspected of sexual abuse – being allowed to live at the neighbouring abbey.
The school has been dogged by an ongoing scandal involving abuse by monks and staff for decades and in 2020 was ordered to stop admitting new pupils as a result of ‘serious failings’.
Ampleforth College disputed the findings in the Ofsted report and headteacher Robin Dyer said they were ‘deeply disappointed that Ofsted should have produced a report based on a number of incorrect assumptions and factual inaccuracies regarding our safeguarding’.
Ampleforth College (pictured), which charges nearly £38,000 a year, has been rated ‘inadequate’ after a report found sex between pupils, boozy parties, class A drugs and concerns around safeguarding pupils from monks
The new Ofsted report, published today, said: ‘The arrangements to safeguard pupils, including the most vulnerable, at Ampleforth College remain ineffective.’
Inspectors said they were contacted by ‘whistleblowers’ before and after the inspection due to concerns about a ‘serious safeguarding incident’.
They said that on their last day of school 81 students in Year 13 left their individual boarding houses at 2.30am, frustrated that Covid restrictions had deprived them of a ‘graduation party’.
According to the report, the students disabled locks and alarms and took a pre-planned route in order to avoid CCTV cameras.
Meeting at an ‘agreed destination’, the report said, these ‘unsupervised students consumed alcohol that had been brought onto site in secret’.
The report added: ‘One student was found unconscious and alone in an orchard. Another student was hospitalised because of excess alcohol consumption.
‘At the same time, leaders located, and alerted police to, Class A drugs found on the school’s site.
‘Staff, who were alert to the possibility of end-of-term celebrations, were not sufficiently vigilant.
‘They did not take action to prevent these dangerous behaviours. Since this incident, leaders have started to use sniffer dogs and thermal-imaging cameras to prevent any recurrences.’
The new report also revealed that the school, which is now co-educational, failed to deal with reports of sex between vulnerable pupils.
It added: ‘On another occasion, very recently, some younger pupils with identified SEND (special educational needs) engaged in penetrative sexual activity during the school day while not supervised sufficiently well.
‘This sexual activity was witnessed by one of their peers. The school’s staff knew of risk factors in relation to these children.
‘They did not take proper account of the information they had when organising changing facilities for physical education lessons.
‘Their risk assessments and subsequent actions were insufficient to prevent harmful behaviour.
‘They remain unsure about how to protect vulnerable children who show overly sexualised behaviours.’
Handing out an ‘inadequate’ rating to the school, Ofsted also claimed there are new concerns about convicted paedophile monks residing at the nearby abbey.
It said: ‘At the time of the last inspection, in March 2021, the headteacher had a veto over which monks could or could not reside at the abbey.
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‘This agreement is no longer in place. This means that there is now little that leaders can do if the abbey decides to admit monks of concern onto the Ampleforth Abbey site.
‘Monks of concern would include those who have been accused, and any found guilty of, child sexual abuse in the past and any who are under investigation currently.’
In a lengthy statement, Ampleforth College disputed the findings by Ofsted inspectors.
Ampleforth College disputed the findings in the Ofsted report and headteacher Robin Dyer said they were ‘deeply disappointed that Ofsted should have produced a report based on a number of incorrect assumptions’
The college said: ‘Ofsted’s conclusions rest on four cases or issues. In each instance, Ofsted’s report contains factual inaccuracies and draws judgements which are not substantiated by the evidence base.
‘Ofsted describe a case of two students who engaged in ‘penetrative’ sexual activity, despite being contrary to the statements of those involved and a witness.
‘The police report states “no implication of penetration” and “no further action for police”. The witness described “a three second incident in which both [students] were laughing”. A third student was in the room.
‘Ofsted states that students were not supervised sufficiently well. They were getting changed for sport and in line with usual safeguarding procedures staff are not allowed in a room while students change. Staff were on duty in the corridor outside the changing room.
‘Ofsted also says the school knew the risk factors around these children and that our risk assessments were insufficient. However, nothing in the previous behaviour of the students known to the school suggested there was a risk of physical sexual behaviour.
‘In the case of the Year 13 incident, Ofsted implies this was brought to their attention by whistleblowers whereas the school fully reported to the appropriate agency that same day and immediately undertook an exercise to learn lessons.
‘Ofsted’s assertion that a student was missing for an hour and was unconscious in an orchard is simply incorrect. A logged phone call with the student and other evidence demonstrate that they were absent for a total of 15 minutes and were not unconscious.
‘A trace of Class A drugs was found in one student’s room but there was no evidence of drugs being consumed.
‘In recognition that this was the Year 13 students’ last night at school and there had been some frustrations about Covid restrictions, boarding House staff stayed up until 1.30am and were on duty all night.
‘Established and maintained security procedures were in place including on-site security personnel, CCTV alarm systems, security stays on windows and other security devices.
‘The students planned and co-ordinated their departure from the boarding houses after 2am, and damaged or disabled the security systems in order to evade detection. This is a matter of great regret and they were disciplined in a manner which reflected the seriousness of the incident.
‘Long before Ofsted’s inspection, the school commissioned and had implemented additional security measures.’
The school also said the inspectors’ finding that monks found guilty of child sexual abuse could live in the neighbouring monstary was ‘incorrect’.
‘In line with arrangements put in place in recent years, the School and the Abbey have become two separate institutions with delineated sites and marked boundaries,’ the school added.
‘This separation is monitored and controlled by CCTV, fences, risk assessments, a robust visitor policy, and security personnel.
‘Nine of the monks at Ampleforth Abbey work in the college as chaplains. They have gone through all the usual checks for staff required by safer recruitment regulations.
‘The College has no right to control who lives in the nearby monastic community. However, to make safeguarding as robust as possible, the college has agreed a draft safeguarding protocol with the abbey and enlisted the support of local statutory agencies to maximise the effectiveness of these measures.’
Robin Dyer, headteacher of Ampleforth College, added: ‘We are deeply disappointed that Ofsted should have produced a report based on a number of incorrect assumptions and factual inaccuracies regarding our safeguarding.
‘We have made repeated attempts to correct the facts before the report was published. We do not lightly stand up to our regulator but in this instance the injustice cannot be allowed to stand.
‘Ampleforth is a safe school. Our students know it and our parents and staff know it too.’
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