A SCHOOL slammed for failing to protect its children has started to make improvements, a fresh report has revealed.

The King John School, in Shipwrights Drive, Thundersley, was branded inadequate following a damning inspection in February.

Major concerns were raised surrounding safeguarding, which the school stated was “clearly not acceptable”.

Leadership, at the school and the Zenith Multi Academy Trust, was also criticised, but a monitoring inspection in September, published yesterday, stated that improvements had been made, highlighting that leaders’ roles and responsibilities had been reviewed.

External reviews of safeguarding and the school’s use of funding to support disadvantaged pupils have taken place.

The report read: “At the time of the previous inspection, pupils did not have a secure knowledge of some of the risks that they might face or how to minimise these.

“Subsequently, pupils have learned about the dangers of knife crime and drug and gang-related ‘county lines’ activity, for example, during assemblies and talks from visiting speakers.

“Pupils have a secure understanding of these issues now.”

The critical Ofsted inspection states the school has not maintained the “outstanding quality of education” and that leaders have an “overinflated view of the school’s effectiveness”.

Concerns had been raised that senior leaders were unable to affectively work due to high demands – which has now been addressed.

The report added: “The headteacher has reviewed the roles and responsibilities of senior leaders. At the time of the previous inspection, some leaders were overburdened. This meant that their ability to work strategically was limited.

“Individual leaders now have fewer areas of responsibility. Leadership capacity has been increased through additional appointments to the senior leadership team.

“Teams are starting to be led and managed more effectively, so that colleagues work together and share information.”

Dr Margaret Wilson CBE, CEO of the trust, said: “When the Ofsted report was published in April the trustees promised to work rigorously and robustly to address and correct the findings. I am delighted that the Ofsted monitoring visit report, released yesterday, reflects that we have done this.

“The inspectors recognised that the headteacher, leaders and the trust worked tenaciously to improve the culture of safeguarding at the school. I am particularly pleased that they also acknowledged the importance of the trust’s Zenith Minds provision, for providing counselling and other forms of expert support for pupils that have complex needs.”