Last updated at 15:31, Tuesday, 27 March 2012

BARROW’S academy has revealed that it spent less than £4,000 in legal costs taking Ofsted to the High Court.

Furness Academy had an injunction hearing at the London court earlier this month to try and stop the education watchdog from publishing its inspection report which deemed the Barrow school to be ‘inadequate’ and needing a ‘notice to improve’, as it failed to reach the expected national levels in maths.

The secondary school had lodged a complaint with Ofsted as it felt the overall effectiveness judgment was “misleading” as the academy was judged over five years, when it only came into existence in September 2009, to replace three predecessor schools.

Furness Academy did not succeed in getting an injunction and Ofsted published the report. The academy’s appeal is still going through the official complaints procedure.

There had been speculation that it could have cost £50,000 to £100,000 for the academy’s legal costs, but principal Douglas Blackledge has now confirmed the amount is under £4,000.

Mr Blackledge said Furness Academy took the place of another unnamed academy school, listed as Academy X, for the hearing.

He said: “It is the fraction of the cost of the loss of one student over five years.

“We felt that is was justified to protect the academy’s reputation and future intake.

“The loss of one student over a five-year period is £16,000. It is less than a quarter of that amount.”

The academy said there was some comfort that following the hearing Ofsted produced a covering letter with the report, which said “but for the inadequacies in mathematics, the academy’s overall effectiveness would have been graded satisfactory”.

But it did highlight that “the quality of mathematics teaching represents a serious weakness in the academy’s provision”.

Ofsted has said it intends to “robustly defend its report”.

Today a sod-cutting ceremony was taking place at Furness Academy South Site to mark the start of new the £22.5m new build.

Furness Academy students and Year Five primary children were due to be involved in the event.

First published at 13:13, Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk