GOVERNORS at Callington Community College said they would leave 'no stone unturned' in their attempt to make improvements after the school was placed in special measures by education inspectors last week — three years after a rating of 'outstanding'.

Following a recent Ofsted inspection at the college, the resulting report deemed its overall effectiveness as 'inadequate'.

Education inspectors visited the college over two days in March. This followed an earlier inspection in January where they found that safeguarding arrangements were not being met.

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This judgement automatically triggered a further inspection covering every area of the college's work.

While the latest report recognised that the college had already implemented many new and appropriate initiatives, policies and practise to improve the quality of education and address some of the safeguarding concerns, inspectors concluded that further work needed to be carried out to ensure that safeguarding arrange-ments meet statutory requirements.

The safeguarding inspection followed the conviction of 24-year-old Callington College teacher Luke Maslen who was jailed for four years for having sex with two teenage pupils.

Inspectors said that over time senior leaders and governors had not acted with sufficient urgency or rigour to investigate allegations against individual staff.

The report also identified concerns over the overall quality of governance of the college, some aspects of leadership and management and some areas of teaching and learning.

Although inspectors acknowledged that the principal, appointed last year, had a clear understanding of the college's strengths and areas in need of improvement, the report concluded that the college required special measures to improve.

The issues identified in the report are currently being addressed in an improvement plan being developed by staff and governors.

Principal Sean Morris said: 'While we are pleased that the report recognises the work which has already taken place to raise standards and improve our safeguarding arrangements, we recognise that we need to do more.

'Our aim is to improve our judgement to "good" and then "outstanding" as soon as possible and are working extremely hard to begin implementing all the recommendations made by the inspectors. Our focus is on keeping our students safe, happy and successful and we are committed to improving the quality of safeguarding practice across the college.

'We believe that Callington is still a very good place for children to be educated, with still largely the same staff working here as when the college was rated outstanding. GCSE and A-level results are above the national average and students have a wide range of opportunities to develop within and beyond the curriculum.'

The report said that standards across the college had declined since the previous full inspection in 2012 and that leaders during this period had failed to recognise and halt this decline.

The governors had very little understanding of the college's current performance and were unsure how extra funding was deployed and the impact it had on raising achievement for eligible students.

The report said that subject leaders did not challenge teachers sufficiently or follow up on the quality of teachers' marking and feedback in each department.

Inspectors strongly recommended that the college should not seek to appoint newly qualified teachers.

In a letter to parents, it was said the focus of the governing body, principal and leadership team was to improve the rigour of governance, complete the safeguarding improvements and ensure the quality of teaching is exemplary. It had been decided that the college would now operate without an executive principal and as a result Gary Lobbett had returned to his duties in London on a full-time basis.

Adding that the college would be holding a special meeting for parents to discuss the inspection report and the improvement plan, chair of governors Mark Duddridge said: 'The governing body will be working rapidly to improve its effectiveness and ensure that we address the issues identified in the report. We will be working to put right the situation we are currently in and will leave no stone unturned in our attempt to do so.

'The Ofsted inspection team were clear that they believed we had the ability to make the required improvements and we are keen to begin this process as quickly as possible.'