A SCANDAL-hit school previously rated outstanding by Ofsted has been placed into special measures following a scathing report.

The Colne Community School and College, Brightlingsea, underwent a two-day snap Ofsted inspection in May.

Two months earlier, two leaders from the Thrive Partnership Academy Trust were suspended.

The reasons for the suspensions of chief executive Nardeep Sharma and executive principal Catherine Hutley have still not been revealed.

The Ofsted report published last night rated the school inadequate in all areas.

A team of seven inspectors visited the school.

They slammed leaders, including governors, and said: “Parents, staff and pupils have lost confidence in leaders’ ability to run the school effectively.”

The inspectors found bullying - including racist, homophobic and towards those with special educational needs - was dismissed by staff.

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The report said: “Pupils told inspectors that sometimes teachers tell them bullying is ‘banter’ and to ignore it.

“Bullying takes place and pupils do not have confidence in leaders to resolve it.

“Many pupils approached inspectors to raise concerns about poor behaviour and bullying.”

It added: “Pupils were observed by inspectors pushing on the stairs, swearing, shouting and sliding down bannisters.

“Some pupils’ actions are unsafe to both themselves and others.”

Students are not effectively protected from harm and during the inspection were witnessed running across a busy road.

“Some students are sent by their teachers, unsupervised, and unknown to school leaders, to undertake sports training off-site with adults not employed by the school. The adults they met here are not vetted by school leaders.”

It said the behaviour of some pupils is accurately described by staff as ‘“scary”.

“They disrupt the learning of others and create an unpleasant and sometimes frightening environment around the school.”

Pupils’ progress was also said to be poor.

Thrive Trust chairman Neil Jones said the report “does not come as a complete surprise” as the Trust board “had been concerned about the provision at the school for some time.

Interim executive head Neil Gallagher said: “Without doubt, the findings within this report are extremely disappointing, however, we fully accept the outcome and are committed to addressing all of the issues identified as soon as possible.”