A school in Hillingdon has come under fire after an 'inadequate' Ofsted report.

Stockley Academy was deemed 'inadequate' overall in an inspection that took place in June this year.

Behaviour and safety of pupils and the sixth form provision were rated as 'requiring improvement' with leadership and management, quality of teaching and achievement of pupils all deemed as 'inadequate'.

The school is now placed into 'special measures', which will see a senior inspector keeping a close eye on the Academy, and visiting the school once a term for the next two years.

Principal Leo Gilbert assures that “no parent needs to be concerned about the quality of education their children are getting here”.

He said: “The main thing that came out of the report was that the Academy seems to have taken it's eye off the ball in the last year or two.

“The results in 2014 were disappointing, the results in 2015 were better but it seems that the leadership at the Academy has meant that the incredibly hard-working and talented staff have just not been given the guidance they needed over the last couple of years.

“Most of what [Ofsted] are saying is that there's strengths in that individuals do a good job, but the clarity and consistency that's provided by good leadership and management hasn't been there, which has led to a lowering of expectations in many ways and the students picked up on that and not surprisingly, they've allowed their own expectations to slip.”

Mr Gilbert was appointed in May this year and knew he had a lot on his hands, after a disappointing previous Ofsted report.

He said: “Ofsted came to inspect the Academy half way through my fourth week here. It was interesting position to be in but a challenge that I tried to rise to.

“When I started, I could see that I needing to get everyone seeing things in the same way and to find what it is we need to do to work together and things improved very quickly.

“It's a shame Ofsted came only after I'd been there for less than four weeks, but already parents and staff saw that things were improving.

“That space of time it's not enough for Ofsted to say there are no problems. There clearly are problems that have been in place for a couple of years but the Academy is already on the up.”

As the new term begins, Mr Gilbert is confident he can get the Academy off special measures after a year, and hopes for an outstanding rating in three or four years.

He added: “If you walk round the Academy you see that children are in lessons, they're being taught well in fantastic facilities, the buildings are great and have a really good feel to them.

“I didn't disagree with the inspector's judgement, I saw the things that they saw, they have evidence and data and it wasn't as it should be in many ways. But it is an Academy where things are rapidly improving.”

Mr Gilbert is inviting as many parents as possible to a 'Meet the Principle' event at the Academy on Monday September 21 at 6.30pm.