AN EAST Cornwall college principal has said staff are working to implement the recommendations from a recent Ofsted monitoring report 'as quickly as possible' following inspectors' findings that the school's safeguarding of children needed improving.

A team of Ofsted inspectors visited Callington Community College in January to survey the college's safeguarding arrange-ments following a recent court case involving a teacher who was jailed for grooming two teenage pupils and having sex with them.

While the report, published last week, recognised the college kept children safe in its day-to-day practise and all staff were appropriately trained in safeguarding matters, inspectors identified a number of areas where the current practise needed improving.

In a letter to the principal, Ofsted inspector Jonathan Palk said: 'Academy staff react well when child protection issues arise. However, staff are not taking the initiative in looking for the more subtle signs of safeguarding concerns, such as those associated with child sexual exploitation, cyber bullying and racism.'

He also stated that teachers were not responding assertively to incidents of disrespectful language and immature attitudes towards homosexuality and race, in lessons and day-to-day interaction with students, and he said at present students had a weak understanding of British values and were poorly prepared for life in modern democratic Britain.

'Leaders undertake good analysis of poor and disruptive behaviour and bullying incidents but are not doing enough with the information at an academy-wide level,' he said.

'There have been incidents of verbal abuse to staff. Students report that the use of foul language out of earshot of staff is common.'

'Older students state that "sexting" is prevalent and intrusive and that these behaviours are accepted as typical. There is little indication that any analysis is done to address these issues by school leaders.'

The report outlined a number of recom-mendations, including developing systems to analyse data more thoroughly, revising the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE) curriculum to provide a greater focus on keeping children safe online and safe from child sexual exploitation and tackling racism and homophobia and incorporating the latest safeguarding guidance into the college's child protection policies.

College principal Sean Morris said: 'We are pleased that the report found that we react well when child protection issues arise and that the child protection team are tenacious in following through all safeguarding concerns as they arise.

'We also welcome the positive comments on the exemplary behaviour of our children.

'We recognise, however, that our current practise falls short in some areas and there are lessons we can learn.

'We are working with the local authority and other partners to implement all the recommendations con-tained in the report as quickly and effectively as possible.

He said the PSHEE curriculum was already being redesigned and the college was appointing a new curriculum leader for PSHEE and Citizenship and has also written a new child protection policy containing the updated guidance.

'Our focus, as always, is on keeping our students safe, happy and successful. We will be holding a parents' meeting at the college in the next few weeks and parents are welcome to visit the college at any time to see for themselves how we work.'