A school for autistic children has been graded ‘requires improvement’ following an emergency Ofsted inspection.

The National Autistic Society Anderson School on Luxborough Lane, Chigwell, was deemed to have not met the overall outcome and standards of an independent school.

Issues concerning the 57 pupil’s health and safety, welfare and leadership standards from staff were highlighted in the Ofsted reported published on Sunday, November 17.

The latest inspection, held on Tuesday, October 15, resulted in the same grade awarded to the school upon their first ever inspection in May 2018.

A statement from the Ofsted report says: “The school does not meet the requirements of the schedule to The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (‘the independent school standards’) and associated requirements that were checked during this inspection, as set out in the annex of this report.”

The emergency inspection was granted following a recent surge of complaints from parents by Ofsted and the Department for Education (DfE).

Ofsted may monitor a school judged requires improvement will usually conduct a full re-inspection within 30 months.

According to the report, several pupils have experienced serious incidents involving online safety outside of school time.

Despite staff updating their safeguarding policy, Ofsted felt that there was “little evidence about how leaders have supported individual pupils to modify their inappropriate use of technology”.

Other safeguarding concerns include not all concerns reported by students aged between 11 and 19 are fully recorded.

Kirstie Fulthorpe, director of education and children’s services at the National Autistic Society, said: “Everyone at our school is disappointed that a number of standards were not being met at the time of the inspection.

“Despite the inspectors highlighting positives around recruitment and the school site, it’s clear that we are not yet meeting the high standards that we, our students and their families expect.

“The safeguarding and welfare of all our students is our top priority and the foundation of everything we do. As soon as we received feedback from the inspectors, we started implementing a comprehensive improvement plan to address the concerns raised by Ofsted.

“We’ve also reached out to parents, carers and students to share the results of the inspection and explain how we’re going to improve.

“We’re now into our third year as a school and have incredibly high aspirations for the future. With a fantastic team in place, we are determined to be the great school we know we can be – and to make sure we’re always giving our students the best possible education.”

Ofsted however did note some improvements within the Chigwell-based school in between their last visit 18 months ago.

The report noted repairs and updates to the school classrooms, play equipment and security within and around the school premises.

The report states: “Leaders have taken action to improve the fencing around the school to protect pupils and prevent them from accessing the school car park without permission. Pupils spoke positively of these improvements.”

Since March 2019, the proprietorial body has appointed a director and assistant director of education to make regular visits to the school to monitor its work.

Should no other complaints be issued, Ofsted will conduct their next inspection within the next two and half years.