A secondary school has been rated inadequate after leaders failed to provide appropriate support for students after Covid-19 learning.

The Hugh Christie School in Tonbridge lost its Good rating from Ofsted after an inspection in March.

A report from inspectors, released on Friday, stated bosses at the White Cottage Road site “fail to check on the well-being and support for pupils who do not attend school regularly since the period of partial school closures caused by the coronavirus”.

The mixed-gender school looks after 958 children from 11 to 18 years of age.

Hugh Christie was rated Good in three categories – quality of education, personal development and sixth-form provision – but was told it requires improvement in its behaviour and attitudes and that leadership and management was inadequate.

Speaking about its failings, the report says: “Many of these pupils have not re-engaged with their education because they are not provided with the specific support they need.

“In addition, leaders do not consistently take action to ensure pupils are safe when staff raise safeguarding concerns.

“While leaders have positively developed many aspects of school life, they have not ensured that all pupils get the help they need to regularly attend school and behave well. Governors and senior leaders recognise the seriousness of this and have commissioned additional external support.

“However, leaders have not proactively acted upon this. Consequently, there is a clear lack of strategic understanding and direction to ensure all pupils benefit from an effective education.

“Leaders do not take effective action to encourage pupils who are persistently absent to attend well. In addition, there are a number of pupils on reduced timetables.

‘We are naturally disappointed with the overall Ofsted judgement...’

“All too often, leaders report that less time in school leads to a further negative impact on a pupil’s engagement. A lack of monitoring and further action means that too many pupils are not in school learning the intended curriculum.”

Behaviours from some pupils at the school were described as “disruptive”, with staff not always being consistent with how they deal with this.

The report added: “Leaders also do not maintain records of when they remove pupils from lessons for poor behaviour.

“As a result, there is a lack of understanding of what additional help individual pupils need to meet the behaviour expectations.”

Despite these shortcomings, inspectors found there was a “carefully developed an ambitious and cohesive curriculum” and the sixth-form curriculum is “well considered, with a wide range of vocational and academic courses on offer”.

Staff also feel “very supported” in their roles and “value the suite of effective training alongside the work of leaders and governors to carefully monitor their workload and well-being”.

The report added: “Staff are happy to work in the school and are keen to make the necessary improvements to help all pupils learn well.”

A spokesman for the school said: “We are naturally disappointed with the overall Ofsted judgement, as most aspects of our school performance were judged as good. However, the safeguarding arrangements were considered ineffective and we fully accept those findings of the report.

“In the three months since the inspection, leaders have prioritised these concerns and have been working to address them with support from the local authority. A new safeguarding team has been established who will have the time and capacity to be able to manage the safeguarding and behaviour concerns which have arisen since the pandemic.

“Alongside those concerns, a number of positive aspects of our school were identified by inspectors.

“The quality of education was rated as good, reflecting the superb work of our loyal teaching and support staff.

“Inspectors praised the school’s work in supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and were particularly impressed with the work that takes place with our most vulnerable pupils who need extra support.

“Personal wellbeing and development were also judged as good. Inspectors praised the school for the work it does to provide a broad range of educational experiences outside of the curriculum including developing skills and providing opportunities for trips and visits.

“Our Sixth Form was also judged as good. Inspectors considered that the curriculum was well considered and they praised the teachers for their expert subject knowledge.

“Despite our disappointment with the overall judgement, we were pleased to receive so many positive comments and will make every effort to tackle the areas of concern and return to a more positive judgement as soon as possible.”