A BOARDING house at a Mark school for children with learning difficulties has closed after it was slammed in an Ofsted report.

The college, which is located in Blackford Road, received an ‘inadequate’ rating during its inspection which took place on January 17.

The report highlighted how leaders and managers failed to safeguard children in the school’s boarding house so much so that they placed them at ‘significant risk of harm.’ The school’s boarding house closed in June, just four months after the damning inspection report was published.

A spokesman for the school said closing the boarding house was a ‘difficult decision’.

“The learning and teaching provision remains unaffected and the college stays fully open and operational as before for all day students,” the spokesman said.

“We are very sorry for the disruption this decision has caused to families and it was not a decision we took lightly.”

In the report, which was published on February 28, inspectors said there were ‘widespread failures’ in the school’s adherence to national standards and said leaders failed to ensure the boarding house was safe for students.

The report said: “Leaders and managers have failed to safeguard and promote children’s and young people’s welfare.

“There are widespread failures in adherence to the national minimum standards.

“These failures place young people at significant risk of harm.

“Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that the residential environment is safe. Fire safety is not effectively promoted.

“Safeguarding records are inadequate. They do not consistently contain a comprehensive record of all work undertaken as part of an investigation, whether this be an internal investigation, or that carried out by external agencies.”

However, the report also pointed out some of the boarding house’s strengths.

“Children and young people say that their views are listened to and are acted upon,” the report said.

“They say they enjoy staying in the residential provision. Leaders and managers ensure that they are provided with a wide range of social and leisure activities.”

A spokesman for Mark Parish Council said: “Apart from staff redundancies, in particular affecting those living in the parish, a closure would have little affect on the village.”