AN EMERGENCY Ofsted inspection has said a troubled Hampshire special school cannot be considered “a safe institution”.

Although inspectors recognised improvement at Stanbridge Earls School, they highlighted a number of areas where it still failed to meet standards expected.

The £39,000-a-year school, near Romsey, is at the centre of sex abuse allegations and has announced it is to close.

Ofsted had already ordered two previous emergency inspections but the latest, in June, referred to an incident on a school trip, which it said was “serious and demonstrates that the school cannot yet be considered a safe institution”.

Claims were made to Ofsted that three male teenagers rockclimbed naked on a half-term trip, allegedly watched by two teachers.

The school failed to meet the national minimum standard in child protection, health and wellbeing, leadership and management, staff supervision, training and support, and placement planning and review.

However, the report said interim head teacher Maggie McMurray’s appointment and the planned closure and takeover decision had led to significant progress and that increased staff meant closer supervision of children.

The report said children were safer than on previous inspections in January and April, but events had demonstrated “inherent weaknesses remain in how the school promotes the safety and welfare of all pupils”.

As a result the Department for Education has decided not to remove the school from the register of independent schools, but wants to see an action plan set out.

This comes after a special educational needs and disability tribunal earlier this year found that a vulnerable youngster had suffered “appalling abuse” at the hands of another student, while the school was slammed by panel members for being “unsystematic, unprofessional, ad hoc and completely inadequate” when it came to protecting the youngster.

Hampshire police set up Operation Flamborough to probe allegations made by two former pupils.

Stanbridge Earls has said it will be taken over by another school, More House School, in Frensham, Surrey, in December.

A statement from the school governors said: “We welcome the fact that the plan to open another school on the site of Stanbridge Earls remains on track following the latest reports from Ofsted.”