A FAILING Bournemouth secondary school has been placed in special measures after government inspectors branded it “inadequate.”

Winton Arts and Media College now faces tougher, more regular inspections and could even be closed if drastic improvements are not made.

Senior managers and teaching staff could be dismissed and governors may be replaced in order to drive up standards at the boys’ school.

Parents received a letter yesterday outlining the findings of the report.

The last full Ofsted inspection carried out at the 850-pupil school was completed in June 2008 and identified areas of concern. It ranked the school satisfactory.

Since then there have been two monitoring visits, one published in June and one due for publication today.

The report in June said the school had made “inadequate progress in making improvements” and “inadequate progress in demonstrating a better capacity for sustained improvement.”

It criticised the standard of teaching and said: “Behaviour deteriorates towards the end of the day due to pupils’ often poor classroom experiences.”

Even stronger condemnation is expected when the results of the latest inspection are published today.

The head teacher Roger Allen is also head of girls’ school Glenmoor, which has seen a marked improvement in its GCSE results.

But latest figures for Winton show that just 34 per cent of the boys gained five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C, including English and maths, one of the lowest figures in Dorset.

Mr Allen said a robust school improvement plan has been drawn up.

“I want to reassure students, parents, teachers and the community that I am fully committed and determined to being about the necessary changes to improve education at the College” he said.

“I will be holding a Parents Forum meeting to discuss the findings and recommendations contained in the report and to talk about how we are going to turn the school around.”

Councillor Nicola Greene, Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services at Bournemouth council added: “We are very confident that we will succeed in getting the school back on track.”

• What does special measures mean?

It means that, at the moment, the school isn’t giving children a satisfactory education.

• Why hasn’t the College made the necessary improvements since the last Ofsted visit in June?

Actions taken to address the issues raised in the earlier report had not had the necessary impact in time for the latest inspection.

• Did Ofsted report anything positive?

Yes, it commented on competent and committed new teachers, improved attendance and punctuality, how monitoring of students’ progress has increased and how the governing body is supportive.

• How will being in Special Measures impact on day to day activity?

Students will notice an intensive focus on raising standards and lessons will be monitored more frequently.

• What action is being taken to get the school out of Special Measures?

New teaching staff have been employed, an improvement plan has been developed and an Improvement Adviser has been appointed

• How will progress be monitored?

Ofsted inspectors will visit each term.

• How will progress be communicated?

There will be regular updates in the school newsletter and on the website and progress will be discussed at Parent Forums.

• How can you ensure this does not happen again?

We will develop robust and sustainable school improvement.

• What happens if the College doesn’t come out of Special Measures?

The local authority will look at alternative measures.