The new chair of Falmouth School's trustees has apologised to parents and staff for the failures exposed in June's 'inadequate' Ofsted report.

Phil Orwin, who joined the school as interim chair after the report, gave a speech to around 70 parents last Friday where he apologised on behalf of the school for its "poor" engagement with the wider community.

He also apologised for the 'off-rolling' of students, a practice in which pupils were removed from the school register to benefit the school rather than the child.

Read more: Falmouth School downgraded to 'inadequate' in damning Ofsted report

Mr Orwin acknowledged that the school had 'off-rolled' more than the two students referenced in the Ofsted report. He also apologised to staff who "were not supported as well as they could have expected to be in what is one of the toughest yet most rewarding jobs."

His speech was followed by a round of applause.

Sitting down with the Packet afterwards, he said: "We wanted to make the apologies and for people to have some degree of closure and move on and dispel some of the myths."

He went on to say: "Any school should exist because it's got the support of the local community it serves.

"Certainly in Falmouth it should be an extension and reflection of the whole community that it serves. If not it's not a school in the true sense."

The NHS manager was brought in as interim chair after the latest Ofsted report to help move the school in a new direction whilst a new multi-academies trust (MAT) is being found.

Read more: Falmouth School will transfer to new multi-academy trust

His people-centred and common sense approach has seen some early changes to the way the school is run, including the dismantling of the unpopular 'inclusion' room that saw students punished by being isolated from their peers.

But he also stressed that "The school rules haven't changed. What has changed is how we deal with people who break the rules.

"It's about that conversation. It's less of a structured approach and more about [asking] why has the child or young person behaved in that way?"

He praised his fellow trustees: Canon Bill Stuart-White, Karen Bond, Dave Baker and newly-appointed Mark Eades.

"I'm surrounded by people who are experts: Dave has got many years of experience as the chief of an MAT, Bill who's an expert in terms of welfare and community engagement, Karen has got the background in school governance and Mark Eades has the background in HR."

Mr Orwin spoke about concerns regarding remuneration of school leaders, and was keen to point out that the trustee position is a volunteer role.

Read more: Falmouth School head received £30,000 pay rise despite 'inadequate' leadership

"Trustees don't get paid anything, I have got free hot coffee this morning and that's it. There needs to be scrutiny of remuneration and we are going to have the conversation about doing at least one board meeting in public," he said.

He concluded by saying: "My aspiration is to get to the end, to sit down with all of the trustees and say where did we start from? What were the problems? Are we in a better place? My hope is that we will be in a better place.

"We have got lots of choppy waters and things that people are unhappy with. There are difficult issues, but we'll plough through them."